


The Fifth Wheel

by captaincloud



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Jealousy, Kissing, Loss of Virginity, Oral Sex, Romance, Sex, Slow Burn, Smut, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-13 12:34:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 19
Words: 46,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14112444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captaincloud/pseuds/captaincloud
Summary: The events of FFXV, rewritten with you in it. Epic journey to help the chocobros save the world, and find out what your true calling is.LATEST chapter update: #19 NSFW sexcapade in Altissia





	1. Shock

**Author's Note:**

> A super lengthy daydream fantasy of mine that I've decided to put into words. NSFW chapters will have warnings, other chapters are PG-13. My first fanfic ever, so I apologize for weird formatting, etc. Tags to come as chapters are written/when I learn what to add rofl.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hammerhead

The clock hands struck ten o’clock in the morning, and the glare of the sun bounced off of a fancy black car that arrived into the gas station, piercing your eyes through the diner window. Four men who looked like they belong in an emo boy band album cover walked beside the vehicle, wearily looking around for a mechanic. 

“Hello, waitress??” said a plump, middle-aged lady in front of the counter, snapping her fingers to get your attention. 

Apologetically, you turned to her and took out your notepad to write down her lunch order. You walked into the kitchen and taped the slip to the queue. 

“Flame-roasted toast, with eggs on the side,” you said to the cook and sighed. 27 years here in Hammerhead, and every day was the same old shit. 

You walked back out and started pouring some coffee in a customer’s cup when the front door burst open. 

“No way! They have Ebony here, Iggy!” said a skinny blond man who rushed into the diner, looking at your pot of coffee with huge blue eyes and pulling on his companion’s sleeve. 

You glanced up to see the commotion and said, for the 300th time, “Welcome to Takka’s Pit Stop, home of the sizzling-” when you noticed the man whose sleeves were being tugged staring at you with brilliant green eyes, framed by thin glasses. 

He had dirty blond hair, styled meticulously in a fashion you had never seen in these parts of town, was very tall ( _around 6 feet_ , you speculated), and was wearing a dark leopard-print dress shirt covered by a black blazer. 

He was handsome, in an elegant and understated manner. The intensity of his stare surprised you into silence, and froze you in your place until the cup you were pouring coffee into started overflowing onto the counter.

“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry. Here let me wipe that up,” you blurted to the shocked customer to your left. You reached into a napkin dispenser and grabbed a huge wad of napkins to wipe the spill. 

The skinny blond man raised his eyebrows, laughed, and walked up to the counter.

“Hi! I’m Prompto,” he said, blushing slightly and extending out a hand for you to shake. 

“Um.. I’m Y/N,” you said. It was strange to introduce yourself, in a place where you don’t often see travelers twice. “What would you like to order?” you asked, removing a pen from the bun in your hair and a notepad from your apron pocket.

“Hmmmmmmmmmm,” he plopped down on a bar stool and scratched his chin, trying to decide from the menu. “I’ll have the chili con carne. He’ll have an Ebony coffee,” Prompto said, pointing at his companion. 

The man whose name was “Iggy” took his seat next to his friend and looked into his wallet with a grimace on his face. You nodded and took the order to the kitchen, bringing back the pot of coffee and an empty mug to pour into.

“Why are all the girls here in Hammerhead so pretty?” Prompto asked you, looking around and then playfully resting his head on his hands. 

It was an awkward question, and you were flattered to be grouped into the attractive category but you knew his intention. All of the men that came by asked about your best friend Cindy, the beautiful grease-monkey car mechanic. You served the coffee to his companion and smiled at Prompto.

“You mean-” before you could say any more, a hand forcefully grabbed your shoulder from behind.

“Find your own girl, man,” your boyfriend barked at Prompto. Your boyfriend was Takka’s son, and occasionally came to fill in as assistant manager at the diner. “Don’t you have other customers waiting on you Y/N?” he said through gritted teeth, steering you away from the two men.

Prompto looked shocked and mouthed “sorry” at you, while his friend looked at your boyfriend and then down to his coffee when another waitress delivered their food. You didn’t want your boyfriend to get more upset, so you didn’t look back at them as you continued to serve the other patrons in the diner.

When it was finally time to take your lunch break, it was already 3pm. You were exhausted and wanted some fresh air, so you took off your uniform apron and brought your home-packed lunch outside. You texted your boyfriend to see if he wanted to eat lunch with you, and he replied that he was by the cliffs gathering herbs. _That’s a far walk in the sweltering heat_ , you thought. He seemed mad at you from the events of today, so you reluctantly made the trek to meet him.

The sun hung high above the desert, casting shadows off of the canyons, cliffs, and rock protrusions you were so familiar with. The periwinkle sky was littered with cirrus clouds, like it always is. There was only one season here in Hammerhead- summer. 

You waved to people as you passed by them; everyone knew each other because it was such a small town. The residents either worked at the gas station, diner, car repair shop, or as a hunter/gatherer. 

Almost out of breath, you climbed the last few ledges of a steep incline and saw your boyfriend sitting near the edge of a cliff, sorting out the herbs he gathered. He was a well-built country boy with sun-kissed skin, eyes the same shade as Ebony coffee, and short brown hair. You’ve been dating for a few years now, and to this day you are still surprised but grateful that he chose you instead of Cindy. 

As you got closer to him, you noticed that he seemed upset. He was holding the herbs with shaking hands and accidentally ripping off some leaves here and there. He looked up when you sat down next to him. 

“Hey, you ok?” you asked, cautiously reaching out your hand to touch his hands.

“What do you think? My girlfriend shamelessly flirting with other guys?” he raged and hit your hands away, throwing some herbs to the ground and standing up. 

He always had a short temper, but you couldn’t understand why his tone was extra severe today. You looked concerned but got up and stood your ground.

“I didn’t do anything like that,” you said. “They were just talking to me like regular customers.” 

Faster than lightning, he raised his hand and slapped you across your cheek. He was a strong man; the impact was so forceful that you fell to the ground. Tears welled up behind your eyes as you looked at him, shocked.

“LEAVE HER ALONE!” a deep British voice shouted. You blinked a few times to focus your vision, and saw the handsome customer from the diner. He ran towards you from a few meters away, holding daggers in each hand, face dusty (from hunting, you presumed), with intense emerald eyes narrowed at your boyfriend. 

Three people who were carrying various weapons also appeared from the distance chasing after their friend. When they closed the distance, their weapons disappeared from their hands in a flash of blue. They stopped a few paces short of you and your boyfriend. You recognized the three men as part of the group you saw at the gas station, and one of them was Prompto.

“What did you say? Where the fuck did y’all come from?” your boyfriend asked. His surprised look turned into a sneer when he realized that this man was a customer from earlier today. “Oh, speak of the devil- the creepy men hitting on my girlfriend.”

“Iggy..” Prompto’s face flushed as the other two men in their group looked at him.

“We did no such thing. I can not stand by while you hurt someone who did nothing wrong,” the tall Brit said, folding his arms as his weapons disappeared in a similar manner as his friends weapons did. He was at least a head taller, but he had a thinner frame than your boyfriend.

“She’s my girlfriend, I can do whatever the hell I want. You don’t come into my town and tell me what to do,” your boyfriend said. He grabbed you by the forearm and twisted it to bring you closer to himself. The other men surrounding you moved slightly but hesitated on interfering. 

“Oh? Then who was that other lady I saw you emerge from the restroom with? Your other girlfriend?” the man named Iggy said, with a look of disgust on his face.

“Why you little piece of sh-” your boyfriend snarled. He drew a small herb cutting blade from his utility pocket and lunged towards your defender, who quickly summoned his daggers again and dodged out of the way. 

The three of you were standing dangerously close to the edge of a cliff, at least a 15 meter drop to the rocks below. The three other men summoned their weapons as well, and moved closer to the fight.

“STOP!” you jumped in front of your boyfriend to protect him. You felt a rumble beneath your feet and the ground began to crumble around your heels. The chunk of land you were standing on broke off of the side of the cliff and you felt the force of gravity pulling you backwards. A strong hand grabbed onto your left arm and pulled you forward, throwing you face forward into the stable ground in front of you.

Quickly you turned back and looked with horror as you hear your boyfriend scream, falling out of sight and into the rocks below.


	2. Anger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: GRAPHIC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry lol, this is a heavy one..

You felt the blood drain from your face and your heart pounding painfully in your chest. Your hands and knees shook uncontrollably on the cold, hard ground, as you stared at the scene below in shock. Your boyfriend was small speck far below you, lying on large, jagged rocks. You gasped when you made out what seemed to be a pool of blood forming around his body. 

“We gotta get out of here! The ground here is unstable,” one of the men said. He was the tallest out of all of them, with a noticeable eight-pack of abs showing underneath his unbuttoned leather jacket. He had serious, amber eyes, and an untamed, dark-brown mullet. He held out a hand in front of your face to help you up.

Your arms and legs refused to move, so you stayed stuck to the ground. “Wait! W-we have to go help him..” you stammered. The four men around you shared uncomfortable looks with each other.

The tall muscular man grabbed your arm and put it over his shoulder to move you away from the cliffside. When he stopped and let go of you, you sat back down on the ground helplessly, on a patch of dried grass.

“I’ll.. go check on him,” said a skinny man with spiky black hair, who had sapphire eyes that refused to look at you. He was a little taller than Prompto, wore a black T-shirt covered by a black short-sleeved jacket. He suddenly disappeared from your side in the same type of ghostly blue flash that you saw his weapons disappear with.

“What?? How-” you exclaimed, staring at the men standing around you, stunned. _Who are these people??_

“It’s just .. something he can do,” Prompto said. It was the first thing he said to you since you saw him last at the diner, and his voice was unrecognizable now with a serious tone. His freckled cheeks were scrunched up, lips tightened into a thin line, with tears forming in his blue eyes.

“Um... I got bad news, guys,” the black-haired man said, returning to the group with a swish sound and another flash of blue smoke. He scratched his arm awkwardly with the opposite hand and looked down at the ground. “He’s dead.”

Your throat tightened and your mind went numb. _That’s not true! He’s just injured. He has to be. There’s no way._ The birds in the sky slowed to a pause, the sound of insects buzzing turned silent, and the color of the red rock canyons around you faded to monochrome. Then, everything was black.

—

“Shdflkj weoiruadfkj asdfldsh..”

“Posdfzd dfvkljgm wekol…..”

There was sharp pain in your temples.. You heard muffled sounds that you couldn’t decipher.. You felt warm wind blowing at your face, slapping some strands of hair against your cheek. 

Your body felt heavy. _Were you sitting_? You tried opening your eyes, but they were dry and glued shut. Slowly, you began to pick up some words from different voices.

“... -o way is she coming..!”

“...we can’t leave ..”

“.. too dangerous ..her..”

“She’ll be executed!” was the first full sentence you understood. The energy flowed back to your body like you were fully charged and you peeled your eyes open. 

Momentarily blinded by the sunlight, you brought your hand to shield your eyes. You could see through your fingers that you were a passenger, buckled in to the middle backseat of a fast-moving convertible. _The same fancy black car from the gas station._

“You’re awake!” a voice said to your left. You uncovered your face and turned to see Prompto. He was curled into a ball, holding his knees against his chest.

“Why the he-“ you began.

“You passed out. We had to get you out of there. I found a dusty handprint on your boyfriend’s shirt. You must have left it there when he was holding you,” the black-haired man said, giving you a look of uneasiness from the shotgun seat.

Opening your mouth slightly you furrowed your brows but didn’t say anything.

“I know the Lucian criminal justice system.. That kind of evidence would hit you with death penalty, bypassing a trial where any witnesses could defend you,” he continued, looking back ahead to the road.

“Noct, I’m surprised you actually absorbed any information from your studies,” the driver said, shifting his glasses with his gloved hand and glancing at his shotgun passenger.

You sat up straight and your mouth was agape as you realize what you heard. “What th-! Noct.. is that short for Noctis, as in,” you said with increasing intensity, “Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum???” You didn’t know much about politics and never saw a picture of him before, but you definitely recognized his name.

“Cat’s outta the bag then, why don’t we all just drag ourselves into this mess?” said a gruff voice to your right. The burly man rolled his amber eyes, folded his huge arms, and gave you an annoyed look.

“We’re Noct’s friends. That’s Gladiolus next to you, and Ignis is the one driving,” Prompto said. He scratched his head and shot a sheepish look at Gladiolus. “What? She might as well know who we are, seeing as we kind of .. abducted her.”

“Abducted?? Are you serious? I told you guys to leave her!” Gladiolus said, his right fist clenched with white knuckles and pressed to his scarred forehead.

“Leaving her there with the certainty of capital punishment is as good as murdering her with our own hands, Gladio. Our duty is to protect the citizens of Lucis,” Ignis said. He clenched his teeth, showing his razor-sharp jawline, but kept his eyes concentrated on the road.

“No, our duty is to protect the Prince. That’s the sole purpose of my freaking existence,” Gladio said. He looked off to the side and leaned an arm outside of the car. 

“WHOA stop! STOP THE CAR!” Prompto exclaimed, unfolding himself and startling everyone.

The car screeched to a stop and throwing everyone towards the front of the car. 

“What now?” Ignis said. He twisted the key to turn off the car, and opened his door. 

Prompto hopped out of the left side of the car. You unbuckled yourself, scooted to open the door, and walked to where Prompto was crouching. A puppy about the size of your hand was limping slowly, dragging some sand on the ground with its bad leg. 

Noct got out of the car and walked closer to you and Prompto, with his hands in his pockets. Gladio and Ignis were standing next to each other, unaware of the dog and talking quietly near the front of the car. 

“This is a safe area to leave her. She’ll just slow us down. We have a wedding to go to, if you forgot,” Gladio said, kicking a tumbleweed across the street.

“Out of the question. She doesn’t have anything with her. No clothes, no money, not even her phone that fell into the canyon,” Ignis said, crossing his arms.

You crouched and scooped up the small animal and held it with both hands. Gnats were dancing around the gnarled fur and leaking blood on the puppy’s front left leg. It was a disgusting infection, but your love for animals suppressed your obsessive-compulsive need to immediately sanitize your hands.

“She’s useless. Dead weight on top of our already burdened shoulders. She doesn’t know how to fight, or do anything,” Gladio said loudly, waving his hands around. 

Ignis, deep in thought, glanced over to you. His mouth fell open and his eyes grew wide when he saw your hands glowing white. The wound on the puppy faded away. Prompto gasped and put both hands on his cheeks, opening his mouth to form a perfect circle. Noct rushed towards you with a huge smile on his face, eager to examine the tiny, barking pup.

“You were saying?” Ignis turned and faced Gladio, hands still crossed in front of his chest.

“Big deal, girl can patch up a scratch,” Gladio hissed. He swatted some flies away from his face. 

You stood up, closing your eyes in happiness for a few moments, and hugged the wiggling little creature close to your chest. You gently handed the puppy to Prompto, who was impatiently dancing in place with his arms stretched out. Noct looked annoyed at having to wait a turn. 

Out of the corner of your eye you saw that Ignis and Gladio were still standing facing each other, in a heated debate. Ignis looked around at Noct and Prompto, with a confused look on his face.

“NO ONE noticed why this is a big deal??” Ignis said, looking at Gladio with exasperation. “Only descendants of the Lucian royal family can wield..” Ignis lowered his voice to a whisper, and you couldn’t make out the rest of what he said. 

You were curious what Ignis said to Gladio, but the little fur ball licking Prompto’s face brought your attention away from them. You laughed and then sighed a breath of relief that your inexplicable and unpredictable ability to heal wounds worked this time.

“UGH… Fine! She can come with us, but if she falls behind, we’re not slowing down,” Gladio said, walking back to the car, getting back into the backseat and slamming the door shut.

The sun was sinking into the horizon, and the air around you started to get colder. Despite that, you felt your temperature rising and your cheeks burning with anger. _Who the fuck does Gladio think he is? I’m not worthless, I didn’t ask to be abducted, and I most certainly don’t need anyone’s help._ You started walking away from Noct and Prompto, in the opposite direction the car was facing.

“Hey! Where are you going?” Prompto asked. He ran to catch up to you.

“I’m leaving,” you said, speeding up your pace.

“What?? Why?” Prompto asked, keeping up with you easily.

“You guys came to town and destroyed my life. My boyfriend is dead, and you strangers took me away from my home,” you said. 

Prompto grabbed your wrist and said, “but you can’t go back.. and it’s dangerous at night!” His face showed sadness and you heard genuine concern in his voice, but you didn’t care.

“Don’t touch me!” you wrenched your arm out of his grasp. He looked shocked and stopped in his tracks, as you broke into a run. 

The road stretched on as far as you could see, and every looming rock formation you passed looked so similar to each other. The painful realization that you had no idea where you were, where you were going, and what you were going to do, caused tears to flood your eyes. You kept running until your sides hurt and then finally stopped to catch your breath.

The glow from the last rays of the sun disappeared, and then darkness engulfed you.


	3. Gratitude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took me longer to write this chapter because intense excerpts for future chapters kept popping into my head, begging to be written. Stay tuned for more adventure!
> 
> EDIT: substituted the bit about Ignis' parents with Noct's parents. Apparently Iggy's parents were "in good health" when the boys left Insomnia, according to a Q&A

A gurgle erupted from your stomach, reminding you of the sandwich you didn’t get a chance to eat earlier today. Money was always tight, but thanks to your hard work and the generosity of some Hammerhead townsfolk, you rarely slept on an empty stomach. _Sleep.. I am tired.._ The soft and warm bed you slept on yesterday in your studio apartment was already a distant memory. 

The sound of a branch snapping behind you startled you, and you strained your eyes to see in the darkness. You tried your best to still your breathing and not move at all. _Was that a growl??_ A deep rumble, alerted you to the presence of what looked like a giant skeletal dog with sharp spikes running down its spine. It snapped its teeth at you, and you let out a scream when it ripped the middle of your shirt and tore some skin off.

The searing pain burned your sides and you felt your own blood dripping onto your pants. You frantically dropped to the ground to look for a stone, _anything_ , to fight back with. The beast leapt at you again before you got up, but this time you braced yourself with your arms, closing your eyes. Suddenly, you heard the beast whimpering. You opened your eyes to see a bright flash of blue light and a sword wedged into the skeletal dog’s face. 

Holding on to the sword was Noctis, standing on the beast’s skull. The damage from that blow was enough for the beast to tumble to the ground, defeated. He jumped off of the creature, and picked you up gently, carrying you in his arms.

“How did you find me?” you whispered, looking up at him. The pain pulsed in your sides, and you put your left hand over the wound to stave the bleeding. His arms held you with a comforting strength that you didn’t expect from a person of his stature.

“The pup you healed jumped out of my hands suddenly. It ran so fast I had to warp to follow it. It must have sensed that you were in danger and brought me to you,” Noct said. He started walking slowly. “I don’t see it around anymore though, it must have ran away again. Can you heal yourself?”

You focused all of your energy to your hands, but nothing happened. “It’s not working.. I can’t always control it,” you said in a small and weak voice. 

“Ok, hang in there. We’re almost at the camp,” he said. A warm glow that came from a campfire nearby grew brighter. One man was finishing setting up a tent, another was sitting around the fire on a camping chair, and a third was cooking food on a portable stove. The man that was sitting got up and rushed towards you and Noct.

“What happened??” he asked. It was Prompto, wringing his hands out of concern.

“A Sabertusk attacked her. We need potions, stat,” Noct replied, adjusting his grip on you.

Prompto rushed past Gladio, who put in the last spike of the tent. He shuffled around inside the tent and burst back out with a sleeping bag, a shirt, and some blue glass bottles. 

“Here, put her down,” Prompto laid the sleeping bag down next to the fire, while Noct set you on it gently. Prompto popped opened the lid of a glass bottle, and poured glowing aquamarine liquid onto your wound. Instantly, the pain disappeared, and the skin from the wound melted back together.

“Here’s a shirt, since yours is ripped,” he said, handing you a white shirt with a huge black chocobo on the front of it.

Noctis and Prompto turned away to give you privacy when you sat up to change.

“I’m good now,” you said, and they turned around. You made to get up, but Prompto gently put a hand on your shoulder.

“You need to rest,” he said.

“Ok..” You remembered yelling at him earlier, and avoided looking into his eyes from embarrassment. “Thanks for the medicine.. I can pay you back for that.”

“There’s no need for that. You must be famished- I cooked some vegetable medley stew,” Ignis said, walking from the stove to offer you a bowl of soup filled with carrots, mushrooms, potatoes, and sprouts. 

“Iggy’s cooking is the best, but yuck, veggies are still the worst,” Noct said, grabbing a bowl and plucking out all of the veggies with his hand. Ignis glared at Noct when he threw the veggies onto the ground.

“Thanks.. but I’m not hungry,” you said. The chaos you experienced from being attacked completely erased the hunger you felt earlier. Ignis looked disappointed that you didn’t eat, but didn’t say anything to push you further. He retracted the soup and placed it onto the table.

“Sorry about everything, Y/N.. it’s our fault for butting into your life,” Prompto said, drinking the stew slowly. 

“No, I’m sorry for lashing out at you.. I was scared. You guys were only trying to help. I … I was the one who killed him…” you covered your mouth with your hand, and tears started to well up behind your eyes.

“HEY! You didn’t kill your boyfriend, ok? Him being belligerent and combative caused his fall. There’s nothing you could have done,” Noct said, waving his hands.

“Nothing..? Wait.. you can warp.. Couldn’t you have saved him??” you said with a sudden realization.

Noctis looked down at the ground. “I’m sorry… I.. my magic isn’t strong enough to carry people while warping..”

“What’s your problem?? You can’t talk to the Prince like that,” Gladio suddenly butted in, emerging from the back of the tent.

“It’s fine. Seriously,” Noct said, waving him off. Gladio disappeared into the tent.

“Sorry. Thanks for saving me, Prince Noctis..” you said. You felt guilty for accusing him.

“Yikes, just call me Noct. You’re welcome. It’s too dangerous to stay here in the middle of nowhere with monsters. We’re headed to Galdin Quay tomorrow. Just ride with us there and then you can do whatever you want, like.. never see our faces ever again,” Noct said, with a sideways smile.

“Okay..” you said.

“Great! Well, time to hit the hay. I’m exhausted.. See you in the morn!” Noct said, discarding his bowl onto a table and walking into the tent.

Ignis sighed at Noct. He cleaned up everyone’s bowls and retreated into the tent as well. 

“.. _and what did I tell you?_ She gets hurt immediately,” Gladio’s rough voice was barely masked by the thin tent cloth.

“We were staying the night here anyways, it hasn’t delayed us at all,” you heard Ignis say calmly.

You noticed that Prompto remained seated on the Coleman camping chair. 

“Is this.. your sleeping bag?” you asked.

“Oh.. umm, don’t worry about it,” Prompto said, scratching his head with a smile. “I.. wanted to hang around the fire anyways. It’s cold.”

“Sorry about bleeding all over it...” you said sheepishly.

"I'm just glad you're okay," he said. “It’s good to see you smile again.” His blue eyes reflected the dancing flames of the campfire. “It’s not your fault you know..”

Your smile faded and you stared at the fire.

“I gotta be honest with you.. Your boyfriend was a grade A jerk- and we only knew him for like FIVE minutes. No girl should have to live her life being abused,” he said. He leaned forward, putting his shoulders on his legs.

“He didn't abuse me.. he took care of me. I don’t have anyone else,” you said quietly.

“Sometimes abuse can feel like love.. you know, like abusive parents?” he said, and you shook your head and shrugged your shoulders. "Your parents aren't around?" You kept staring at the fire as he continued asking, “No Aunts? Uncles?”

“When I was a baby, I was left at the side of the road in a box, in Hammerhead. Been bouncing around people’s homes ever since. People in town pitched in a little to let me sleep on their sofas every once in a while. Everyone’s got their own problems though, nobody wanted the burden of adopting another child. When I got older, I was able to work and finally get my own place,” you said. 

You paused and wondered why you were spilling your life story. _Prompto sure has a way with opening people up._

“I’m sorry to hear that, Y/N.. I never knew my parents either. I was... dropped into Insomnia when I was a baby. Luckily for me, I was adopted by the Argentums, a wonderful and loving family,” he shifted his wristband slightly. 

Then, he sounded as if he wanted to steer the conversation away from his own story. “Noct lost him mom when he was an infant.. and his dad is always too busy to spend time with him..”

You looked at him sympathetically. There was some silence and the two of you listened to the crackle of the fire. 

“That’s ok though. The guys.. we all come from different backgrounds. Noct is the prince, I’m a commoner, Iggy was born into a family of royal retainers, and Gladio is from House Amicitia, protectors of the crown. But through thick and thin, we always have each other’s backs,” he said, sitting up straight and balling his right hand into a fist. Then, he leaned back and made himself more comfortable in the chair.

Eventually, you both drifted to sleep from complete exhaustion.


	4. Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Galdin Quay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tried to do as much research to keep things accurate.. direct quotes from the game are used, some paraphrased/altered to fit the storyline with you in it. 
> 
> Sorry about the slow and strangely intense beginning... things are really picking up now! I'm excited to OFFICIALLY ignite the flames of Ignis/reader.
> 
> EDIT: changed the chapter title

The crisp cold air of the desert and the peeking rays of the sunrise woke you up. The fire next to you from last night was reduced to small glowing embers. Prompto was slumped over in the Coleman chair, eyes closed with his mouth slightly open.

You extracted yourself from being buried deep within the sleeping bag, shivering when the air touched your skin, and laid it over him gently. 

“Good morning,” a voice said behind you.

You jumped and looked around. It was Ignis, gearing up to cook breakfast on the portable stove. He smiled, and you realized that he was watching you earlier.

“Terribly sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. How are you faring?” he asked.

You looked down at the ground. There was nothing more frightening and stressful than having your life uprooted and not knowing what your tomorrow was going to be like. There was some awkward silence as he cracked some eggs on to the pans. You glanced over, caught him looking at you, and your eyes shot back to the ground. 

“Everything feels so surreal, like I haven’t woken up from a dream.. Or nightmare,” you said.

“Perhaps some breakfast will help?” he asked.

You still had no appetite. Flashes of your boyfriend’s crippled body came to your mind, and you rushed away to a nearby bush and started throwing up.

“Are you alright??” Ignis dropped his spatula into the pan and rushed over.

You waved him away, covering your mouth. He walked over anyways, despite the smell of your puddle of acid, and brought a tissue for you.

“Thanks,” you said, taking the tissue and wiping your mouth. “I was just remembering.. his body.. and the blood.. so much blood…” you said, with tears in your eyes. You crumpled the tissue and put it in your pants pocket. Your heart was weighed down with conflicting feelings of tremendous sadness and burning anger.

“I can’t believe he was .. with someone else..” you said, thinking back to moments before the accident, to what Ignis said.

“I’m sorry.. I thought nothing of it when I saw it happen after we dropped off the Regalia in the car shop (but before Prompto and I met you). I didn’t realize that you two were together until we interacted with him at the diner. Then, we were hunting near the cliffs when I saw him hit you. I couldn’t stand by and do nothing,” he said.

“How could he…?” you said, hugging your stomach.

“I didn’t know him well, but judging from what I saw I would say that he was a pretty terrible person,” Ignis said.

“I want to forget.. but it still hurts..” you said.

“Because you are a good person,” he said, with a look of concern still on his face. You forced yourself to stand back up, and then you both walked back to the campfire where everyone was stirring from their sleep.

After everyone else finished breakfast and packed up all of the gear, you all loaded into the car. Gladio was sitting in the shotgun seat, so you were sandwiched between Prompto and Noctis. 

“First stop, the motel in Longwythe to drop off that package Cindy tasked us to deliver. Then, we’ll be back on our way to Galdin Quay,” Ignis said, adjusting the rear view mirror and starting the car.

Thoughts were swimming around in your head. _Is it karma? But.. he still took care of me.. he loved me.. right? But he cheated on me.. but.. nobody ever deserves to die because of that.._ You tried to take your mind off of your now ex-boyfriend by taking in the sights zooming past you. Prompto took out his camera and started clicking away taking photos of the scenery, and Noctis sleepily took out his phone and started playing King’s Knight. You leaned over and saw that Noct was having a hard time beating a level.

“You should use lightning strike on this one, it helps take out all of them at once,” you said.

“What??? No way. You play too??” he said, peeling his eyes away from the screen to look at you, shocked.

“If I had my phone, I’d play co-op with you,” you said.

“Wow, we need to get you a phone, stat! I don’t know any girls that play games. If we met in high school we totally would’ve been best friends!” he said.

Prompto peered from his viewfinder with narrowed eyes and coughed loudly. “I’m so hurt!” Noctis and Prompto laughed. The prince and his best friend were not even close to what you imagined they would be like, based on the limited news and hearsay you encountered at the diner. They were laid-backed, humble, down-to-earth. Maybe if you met as teens you would have been friends.

You smiled slightly and caught a pair of green eyes glancing at you in the rear view mirror. 

The car came to a stop in front of a motel, and the five of you piled out of the car. Noctis walked up to the motel entrance window and talked to the manager, who took out the package from the Regalia’s trunk.

A medium-sized black dog with white markings trotted towards Noctis. _Where did it even come from?_ The surrounding environment was still desert.

“Hmm? Umbra,” Noct said, stooping down and scratching the dog’s ears.

“Bringing us stuff, atta boy!” Prompto said, leaning down and looking at Umbra.

“That dog can really track a scent,” Gladio said.

“Certainly ‘nose’ how to find us,” Ignis said. The boys rolled their eyes, but you let out a giggle. You caught Ignis’ eyes and saw a hint of an appreciative smile from him. 

Noct removed a notebook tied to Umbra, and started writing in it, while the four of you stood around him wondering what he wrote.

“All set. Take care out there,” Noct said to Umbra, as the dog walked away.

“I know… you’re not gonna tell me,” Prompto goaded.

“Then don’t ask!” Noct said, annoyed.

_Why is the prince so embarrassed? Is it a diary? A love note?_ You and Prompto exchanged amused looks as everyone got back into the car. 

Ignis started driving and turned on the radio. A newscaster played an official statement by Lady Lunafreya about her upcoming marriage to Prince Noctis.

“Wow.. marrying for peace,” you said. You examined Noctis' face, but his eyes were glued to his phone. “That’s quite a burden.”

“Noct here likes the idea,” Gladio said.

“What’s that? I do??” Prompto exclaimed excitedly, holding his ear next to Noct.

“Buzz off!” Noct said, swatting Prompto’s face away.

“Despite what seems like a contractual betrothal, Noct and Lady Lunafreya are close childhood friends. I don’t see any reason for Noctis to protest, she is very kind and beautiful,” Ignis explained to you. “Her lady ship seems amenable to the prospect as well. When Noct isn’t acting like such a ridiculous person, I’m sure he’s quite a catch.” Ignis gave Noct a side-eye glance while Prompto and Gladio sniggered.

“Ugh you guys are the worst,” Noct said and then let out a huge sigh, looking out at the distance.

The valley of rocks the car was traveling through for some time, finally opened up to reveal an ocean. You had never set foot outside of Hammerhead, so you were in awe at the unimaginable beauty of the glittering sapphire waters. Prompto looked at you and smile at your look of your wonder. Noct was busy playing King’s Knight again, tapping furiously on his phone.

Ignis smoothly slid the car into a parking spot, in front of what looked like a hotel on the ocean. Seagulls cried out from the azure sky, palm trees lined the land around the area, and a pleasant moist breeze tickled your skin. 

“Galdin Quay, here we are at last,” Ignis said, cracking his knuckles. “Time to savor the famously delicious seafood.” You all exited the car and started walking towards the water-top structure.

“Onto a boat, then lover boy gets hitched in Altissia. Then, we get back home,” Gladio said.

As the five of you neared the entrance of the building, a red-haired man wearing an orange scarf, a large black overcoat, and black boots, blocked the entrance.

“The boats are all out of service,” he said. He tossed a coin at Noctis’ face, which Gladio caught.

“What’s this, some sort of souvenir?” Gladio asked sarcastically.

“Consider it your allowance,” the strange man said, waving his hand carelessly.

“Yeah, and who’s _allowing_ us?” Gladio replied, making a fist.

“A man of no consequence,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. He turned around and suddenly looked at you as if he recognized you. “I’ve been searching for you everywhere. I _never_ expected to see you here.” Then, he casually walked away, off of the wooden platform.

The boys all turned to look at you.

“You know him??” Noct asked, bewildered.

“Never seen him in my life,” you said, racking your brain to remember if that mysterious man ever visited Hammerhead. “Maybe he’s mistaking me for someone else.”

“Curious.. There’s more to that man’s story than he claims. Well, I’m skeptical but won’t discount the possibility he’s telling the truth about the boats. We had better go check for ourselves,” Ignis said, as you all continued walking through the restaurant full of lively patrons.

“Ahhh.. not a ship in sight.. what gives??” Prompto said as you walked into the boat docking area. No ships were moored at the docks, but there were a few people scattered about looking confused.

“The empire gave orders to close the docks of Altissia,” said a man with spiky silver hair styled like an onion. He spoke with an energetic accent you’ve never heard before, and wore a modern-looking blazer with a mint green tie. 

“Real shame if you were late to your own wedding.. right, Prince Noctis? Name’s Dino, by the way, pleasure.” he said with a smirk. He extended a hand to Noct, who only stared at him and didn’t shake his hands.

“Oh? Never seen you before. Scandalous really, what’s a pretty lady doing in this sausage fest?” Dino looked you up and down. “Anyways, lucky for you, this reporter has integrity. If you want to remain incognito, you’ll have to do me a favor,” he said.

Noct looked at his friends first, and then back at Dino. Begrudgingly civil, he asked, “what do you want?” 

“Find me some rough gemstones, then your boat will come,” Dino said, handing him a map with a location of the mineral deposit circled.

The five of you headed back into the restaurant. 

“Guess we weren’t careful about being discreet,” Gladio said.

“Even if we had been, the press always finds a way. We needn’t befriend him, but we’d best not make him our enemy. Who knows what kind of blasphemy he’d print for headlines?” Ignis said, taking the map from Noctis and inspecting it.

“Yeah.. I guess.” Noct looked around. “Well, as promised, this is where we part ways, Y/N,” he said, with a hint of sadness in his voice. Prompto shifted to put his hands in his pockets, while Gladio stood expressionless with his arms crossed.

As much as you wanted to leave and forget about everything, you remembered that you had a debt that needed to be repaid. “Umm.. well, I never got to pay you back for saving me yesterday. Maybe I can help out with this errand?” you suggested.

“Aww .. it’s no problem. You don’t have to.. I mean, you’re welcome to hang with us, of course, but like..” Noct said, trying to keep his tone unexcited.

“I owe you! I can't let that go on my record forever. My schedule is pretty open anyways,” you said.

“Great!! Let’s do it!!” Prompto said, gesturing for everyone to head back into the car. You looked back at the beautiful resort as the car brought you all out of the parking lot and onto the road. _Well, I’ll have more time to loiter around here after we get this done._

“Here we are, Saulhend Pass,” Ignis said, as he pulled up next to a road sign after a few minutes of driving. He extracted the map from his pocket, and pointed out the right direction to head in.

The sea breeze and the shade from the boulders kept the five of you cool as you traversed the terrain. The rocky trail wrapped upwards to a vast flat landing of green grass, with a giant feathery hill in the middle of it. _The hill is moving up and down.. Is that a live animal??_ The boys all summoned their weapons and Noct put a hand out before you.

“Stand back. We don’t want you to get hurt,” he said. 

“Unfortunately, the map points to directly where that thing is. If we could simply sneak around it, we could reach the mineral deposit,” Ignis said.

They crouched to their knees and started moving in a line, around what you realized was a giant bird. Prompto made a scrunched up face and the others looked panicked and put a finger to their mouths to quiet him.

“Aaaa... AAAA-CHOOOOOOOO!!!” Prompto’s sneeze echoed from rock wall to rock wall.

“Oh no..” Gladio said. The giant black bird let out a thunderous SQUAK, turned its terrifying face and locked its eyes on its nearest intruder- Gladio. Its large beak swung down at him and without thinking, you rushed towards Gladio and knocked him to the ground, away from the danger.

Frustrated from the miss, the bird began to wind up for its attack again. Your body was hovered over Gladio's, and you held out your hand as a feeble attempt to block the attack. A bright, iridescent shield formed like a bubble, between the beast and your group. The bird’s beak hit the shield and it staggered backwards. 

The reflection from the sun bounced off of the shield and blinded the bird into closing its eyes. It let out another SQUAAAAAKKK, and flew away, leaving a powerful gust that knocked the rest of you to the ground.

“Thanks...” Gladio said, getting up and brushing blades of grass off of his pants. He gave you a pained look, with relaxed into a neutral expression. “I didn’t know you could materialize barriers.”

“Neither did I…” you said, looking at your hands, amazed by what happened.

“That was awesome!!!” Prompto said, jumping up and running towards you. “Close call.. We almost became bird feed! Whew!”

“Very impressive. That was a tremendous help,” Ignis said, sitting up and adjusting his glasses with his gloved hands. 

“Well, seems like the path is clear,” Noct said, walking towards the new mineral deposit the giant bird had obscured. He used his sword to pick a few gems from the deposit and put them in his pocket. “Time to deliver these rocks to that creepy guy.”

\--------------------

“The boats won’t arrive until tomorrow, so we have no choice but to wait here today,” Ignis said, holding a hotel card key and giving some gil to an attendant at the counter.

“Awesome!! Time to take a nap,” Noct said, yawning and snatching the key from him.

Prompto was busying taking pictures of the hotel and happy couples dining at the restaurant near the check-in area. Gladio clenched his teeth, crossed his arms, and opened his mouth a few times before addressing you.

“Y/N. I owe you an apology,” Gladio said. “It was wrong of me to be such an asshole to you. You’re actually really awesome. I think..” He brushed his fingers through his hair. “.. I think I was just intimidated. Cuz like.. you’re pretty hot.” The guys around him each had their own shocked look on their faces from Gladio's statement.

You raised your eyebrows and said, “Wow, is that how you try to get girls?" _Gladio is hot_ you admitted, and it caught you off guard to hear that you were attractive to him (you got hit on here and there in Hammerhead), but you couldn't get over the sudden transition of him being stone cold to flattering. You shrugged your shoulders, blushing slightly. "Whatever, you’re welcome. Good luck with everything anyways.” You waved at them and started to walk away.

“You know.. our offer," Ignis said, recovering from his shock, "still stands if you’d like to accompany us. We could teach you how to better control your magic.”

“Yeah Iggy knows everything, he's a freakin' nerd. He studies for _fun_ ,” Noct said grinning at Ignis, who looked pursed his lips. “And you still owe me a King’s Knight co-op game! We can get another ticket to Altissia, right?”

“I'm positive we will be able to make some arrangements,” Ignis said, looking at his phone.

All of them stood around you, waiting anxiously for your response. _After all of the craziness, they've strangely become.. your friends? Maybe somehow you do belong in their group. Maybe you were destined for more than your life in Hammerhead._

“If you’ll have me,” you finally said. 

“Yay!!!” Prompto cheered. Without warning, he pulled everyone into a clump and took a commemorative selfie. 

“Let’s explore the resort, and get some food, shall we?” Ignis said. “I’m famished!”

“We're pooped... Prom and I are gonna be in the room. Bring us some food will ya, Iggy?” With that, Noct left with Prompto while Ignis rolled his eyes.

“I’m gonna just get some drinks and bar food, not as crazy about seafood as you are,” Gladio said, walking to the bar, eyeing a lady who was standing by the bar.

“Shall we?” Ignis said, gesturing for you to follow him to the restaurant.

You looked around and realized you were all alone with Ignis.


	5. Acceptance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Galdin Quay pt II
> 
> Moved last chapter's title to this one, sorry for confusion :P

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew! Longest break between chapters yet. This was a hard one to write.. but also like.. I had to do taxes.. and got the flu.. lol. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy, this is the last of the angst!

Gentle jazz music was playing in the background of the lobby. You hesitated in following him.

“Still not hungry?” he said, inspecting your uncertainty.

“No.. I’m actually hungry now ..” you said, holding your arm with one hand.

“Astrals, I was getting so concerned I _swear_ I’d force feed you the way I force feed vegetables to Noct,” he said, with a small smile.

“Goodness.." you said, surprised at his insistence. "It’s just.. I left my wallet back home..” 

“We are Noct’s friends, but also his bodyguards, which means we spend with the King's allowance. Although Cid did charge us an arm and a leg for the car repair.. so we’ll have to do some more errands to replenish the pocketbook. Trouble yourself not,” he smiled.

Reluctantly, you followed him to the “Mother of Pearl” restaurant entrance. 

“May we order to-go?” Ignis asked the man at the check-in table.

“No, we only do dine-ins,” the host said.

“Alright, if we must,” Ignis said.

The host led you two to the outdoor seating area, to a table next to the glittering waters. The waiter placed thick menus on your plates.

“What are we celebrating today? A birthday? Anniversary?” the host asked, holding his hands together.

“Oh no, we’re not..” Ignis said, with a blush creeping to his cheeks.

“We’re just friends,” you added firmly.

“Oh! Terribly sorry. You just.. look like an attractive pair.” The waiter bowed and left the table. You both leafed through the menu during a long period of awkward silence.

“I-I hear Galdin Quay is typically a romantic getaway,” Ignis said, breaking the silence.

“Yeah.. I don’t think I’ve been to a more beautiful place. I’ve never left Hammerhead though, so I guess I don’t have enough of a sample size,” you said, still looking at the menu.

“Hammerhead is beautiful in it’s own way,” Ignis said.

“That’s... very... open-minded of you. To make that sort of comparison as we’re basking in this tropical heaven,” you said, looking at the gently swaying palm trees. 

“If everyone thought the same things were beautiful, we would live in a very dull world,” Ignis said. 

“I suppose you’re right,” you said. “Well, I don't know what most of these dishes are, so I’ll leave it up to you to order.” You closed the menu and hailed the same waiter back. The waiter brought some bread and butter and placed it on the table, then he took out a pen from his waist apron pocket.

“My pleasure. We’ll have the White Fish in Tomato Sauce, Sea Bounty’s Risotto, and the Steamed Crab with Rock Salt,” Ignis said. “We should have enough leftovers to bring back. Noct doesn’t eat very much, and he’s not going to eat these vegetables.”

The bread let out some steam as you sliced a portion and moved it to his plate.

“The prince is lucky that he has you to,” you said, gesturing your hand and looking at him. “.. _‘carrot’_ all.” 

Ignis looked at you as you stared at him, waiting for a response. Then, with a moment of disbelief, he burst out laughing, holding his forehead. “Clever! I had no idea you were such an adept purveyor of puns. Please, help yourself first.” He moved the plate to you. He took off his gloves and laid it to the side of the table. Then, he sliced a portion for himself and spread the bread with butter.

“It’s nice to not be awkwardly laughing alone, for once,” you said, tasting the bread. It was extremely soft sourdough, and the butter was very rich- with chives and truffle in it. You let out an ‘mmm’ and a smile.

“The boys are a tough crowd, but rest assured, you won’t have to suffer that _‘pun’_ -ishment with me,” Ignis said. You laughed and looked down at your plate.

“So.. you all work for Noct?” you asked.

“We’re all part of the Crownsguard. We’ve known each other since we were young. Prompto met Noct in public school. The Amicitias (Gladio’s family) has served as the King’s shield for generations, and mine has served as royal retainers. I was raised to become Noctis’ adviser since I was 6,” he explained, and took a bite out of his bread.

“Wow, that’s a lot of responsibility for someone so young. So, you really know him, huh?” you asked.

“Quirks and all,” he said with a smirk. Then he continued seriously, “yes, it has been a strenuous job, but I am very honored to have the privilege of serving the Prince. He has had a difficult childhood himself, and being the heir apparent puts a lot of pressure on him that no one else has to experience.”

“I see..” you said. Noct certainly has an emo, rebellious vibe that you definitely didn't see in King Regis, who had only visited Hammerhead once when you were very young. 

“I ..couldn’t help but overhear your conversation with Prompto yesterday,” Ignis admitted, rearranging his silverware.

“Oh..” you said, putting your bread down.

“I apologize for eavesdropping.. the tent did not provide any sound privacy," he said, sheepishly. "I’m terribly sorry about your parents.” 

“It’s no big deal. Never knew 'em. It is better to never have loved at all, than to love someone and lose them,” you said, trying to smile but leaving your face with an awkward grimace. You looked down at the ocean as the gulls around you cried through the silence.

The waiter arrived with the three steaming dishes balanced on his arm, barely fitting them all on the table. 

“Would you like some parmesan for the risotto?” the waiter asked.

“Yes,” you and Ignis both responded at the same time. The waiter shaved off some curls of parmesan onto the dish.

“‘Grate’ minds think alike,” Ignis said, pointing to the cheese grater. You let a small smile form on your mouth. “After the royal wedding we can arrange for you to live in the Citadel and train with us, if you’re still up for it,” Ignis said, handing you a portion of each of the plates.

“Thanks. Sure,” you said, unfolding your cloth napkin onto your lap.

“Gladio will teach you close combat and weapon mastery. I will teach you basic elemental magic proficiency. Training is rigorous but you’ll have your off time. When they're not skipping practice and sneaking to the arcade, Noct and Prompto also train with us,” he said, taking a bit of each dish for his own plate.

“Do you go to the arcade too?” you asked as a joke. You couldn’t imagine a person as _proper_ as Ignis getting down and dirty in a sketchy arcade. He probably thought it was too loud, or a waste of time for “unruly youth”. 

“On occasion. Although, I hardly have time for my regular duties in addition to babysitting Noct, which is a full time job,” he said with a smile, bringing a chunk of crab to his mouth. You were surprised. _Ignis has fun?_ “Bon appetit!”

The crab was delicious- you’d never had crab, or any crustaceans before. The texture was unlike any other protein you’ve ate- stringy yet chewy in a satisfying way. You dipped some more crab in butter. Butter makes everything delicious. 

You looked at the water as you ate a bite of your fish. A few slivers of silver were swimming around a few cm below the surface.

“Hey look, it’s your friend, Jimmy..” you said, showing the piece of cooked fish to the live one down there. Ignis opened his mouth slightly. _Uh-oh, you let a little bit of your weird personality leak out._ “Sorry lol. I always used to say that at the diner when people ordered the full breakfast set. It’s like they’re eating the whole family: eggs and fried chicken.”

“How macabre,” Ignis said, smiling and taking a bite of the fish.

“Wow! Sea stars!” you exclaimed, putting down your fork. The waves distorted the view but you could see there was a single orange one at the bottom of the sandy floor. “They’re my favorite.. I can’t believe I’m seeing them in real life!”

“Aquatic creatures are fascinating. There’s a splendid aquarium in Insomnia, but seeing the animals in their natural habitat rather than being caged, is far more rewarding,” Ignis said, leaning over to look at it.

“Yeah.. roaming free.. Out in the big ocean..” you said. "The big .. scary ocean..."

Summer’s latest hit started playing on the restaurant radio and you started tapping your fingers on the table. The sun kissed your skin and the warmth felt good. You closed your eyes and smelled the salty air. What a perfect place to escape from all of your troubles.

“You like this genre of music?” Ignis asked, looking at you while continuing to eat.

“Yeah! I’m not really picky. If it sounds good, I’ll listen to it,” you said.

“Even death metal?” Ignis asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Hmm.. possibly,” you said seriously. “You know, if the melody is good.” There was a slight pause before you both laughed. “What kind of stuff do you listen to?”

“Hmm.. given a choice, mostly classical. I also enjoy jazz and opera. I agree with you though, if something sounds nice I will most likely enjoy listening to it,” he said.

“Wow, so bougie,” you said, digging into the risotto. The parmesan was stretched out into small strings as you forked it up from your plate and into your mouth.

“Pardon?” he said, confused. He wiped his mouth with his napkin.

“That’s slang for _bourgeois_. Upper class,” you said, drinking your glass of water with a pinky up in the air.

“I’ve never heard of that colloquialism. Such a fancy word for-” he started.

“Peasants like me?” you said. He stopped smiling. “I went to school too, you know.”

“I was going to say, for slang.. I don’t think of you like that at all,” he said, sitting up straight.

“Haha I’m just kiddin’. Lighten up!” you said, with a bit of a Hammerhead drawl. You didn’t like your hometown accent, and always tried your best to sound more like the “educated” city folk. Not the same as Ignis’ fancy, royal received pronunciation though. Most travelers didn’t have that accent for you to learn from.

“I think that you’re very intelligent. It suits you,” he said. You felt your cheeks blush. Nobody at home had ever complimented you on having brains. Hammerhead was very conservative and traditional. Girls were supposed to be pretty and submissive.

It was a strange feeling- your cheeks hurt from smiling so much within the last hour. Even though Ignis was still a stranger, you talked to him as easily as you would with an old friend. You didn’t think you could ever get along with someone who looked as uptight as he was, but surprisingly you both had a lot in common. 

After your appetites were happily satiated and the leftovers packed, you both headed to the hotel room. Gladio was still in the bar area, with a new addition by his side- a beautiful brunette in a pink summer dress, and intercepted you and Ignis.

“Hey. Nabbed a cell phone for ya. Concierge has a huge pile from the hotel lost and found. Nobody ever claimed it, freakin’ spoiled kids..” Gladio said, handing you a smartphone from his pocket. 

“Wow! Thanks..” you said. It was the latest model from this year- the screen was much bigger and clearer than the old phone you had before. 

“Yeah, no prob. Anyways, I’ll be busy. Don’t wait up!” Gladio said, and his companion giggled. He put his arm around her waist and they headed off towards the docks. You looked at Ignis, but he was already walking towards the elevator.

When you both entered the hotel room, Noctis and Prompto were nowhere to be seen, although their bed had some of their effects tossed onto it. 

“At the arcade,” Ignis read a text on his phone with his brows furrowed. “I can't believe they even have one here at the resort. And I thought they were hungry.. They had better not be eating junk food!” 

You laughed and looked at your new phone. There was no passcode when you booted it up and unlocked it, but there was a weird picture of two cats in bikinis as the home wallpaper. You didn’t want to risk seeing other… strange things.. so you quickly went to the phone settings and reset it to factory default.

Ignis sighed wearily and sat on the sofa. “You can take that bed, I’ll sleep on the sofa tonight.”

“Why? That doesn’t make any sense. I should sleep on the sofa. There’s only 2 queen beds,” you said, confused. _Either you’d have to sleep with Gladio, Noct, or Prompto, all of those situations being equally awkward._

“Gladio won’t be returning tonight, and I’ll be quite alright here,” Ignis said, with a strange, amused look on his face.

“What do you mean he won’t be back?” you asked.

“Well, it seems he will be.. occupied with his usual ...escapades,” he said, pushing his glasses up and tutting.

“Oh… I see…” you said, blushing. “He doesn’t have a girlfriend or anything?” you blurted out before thinking.

Ignis was taken aback by your bluntness. “No.. he’s not the type to commit. He says he’s ‘dismissive-avoidant’. You’d think otherwise, since he’s always reading those _ridiculous_ romance novels.” He looked at you. “Why do you ask?”

“Oh, just wondering. No reason,” you said holding your hands up and opening your eyes wide. “He’s not my type, don’t worry. I’m not gonna... mess up your bro brigade.” You laughed nervously.

“That’s no concern of mine. You are free to do as you please,” he said, smiling slightly and looking at his phone. “In any case, how’s your new phone? I should add all of our numbers in case you need to reach us.”

You handed him your newly reset phone, and he took off his gloves to punch in some numbers and contact names. You walked into the bathroom and turned on the lights. You nearly jumped out of your own skin when you saw yourself in the mirror. Your hair was a tumbleweed, barely resembling the bun you wore two days ago. Your face had so much dust on it, you were at least three shades darker than your usual skin tone. The only thing slightly redeeming about your appearance was the slightly cleaner, hilarious chocobo shirt that Prompto had lent you to wear.

“How on earth did they let me into the restaurant looking like this?” you poked your head out of the bathroom and asked Ignis. “And why didn’t you say anything??”

“You look fine, perhaps slightly weathered from traveling. We all are,” Ignis said, still looking at your phone.

“No, _y’all_ look like fine, upstanding gentleman and I look like a tattered, dirty dishrag,” you said with despair. Ignis choked out a small laugh and looked at you. 

“Let me contact concierge and see if there are any clean clothes we can buy for you. You should shower first, I can take your dirty clothes and get them laundered,” he said.

“Oh… umm..” you hesitated. _A man touching your clothes? Your underwear??_ You felt your cheeks get hot. “Ah that’s ok, I can take the clothes down myself.”

“Just leave them in a laundry bag and I’ll be handing it to the hotel staff. You don’t have to worry,” Ignis said reassuringly, seeing your uncomfortable look.

“Umm.. ok..” You closed the bathroom door and took off all of your clothes, and found a bag in the cabinets beneath the sink to put them in. Then, you opened the door a sliver and quickly put it outside. “Thanks!”

“My pleasure,” he responded.

You let out a huge gasp. The bathroom was so fancy- the bathtub was a giant standalone acrylic bowl with lion heads on both sides as faucets, next to a floor-to-ceiling glass window where you can see directly to the ocean (but not facing other units or public areas). There was a cornucopia of opulent toiletries, some you had never seen before ( _argan oil? Why on earth would my hair need oil?_ ), placed along the marble countertop, between two gold sinks. 

You turned the bathtub faucet on (there was only one, for some reason) and dropped in a rose bath bubble bomb. It fizzed and spun around, filling the room with your favorite smell. The temperature was perfect when you crawled in- hot enough to soothe your body, but not scalding. _Wow, is this how it feels like to be a Princess?_ You giggled and took some bubbles into your hand, looking outside to the ocean. You felt like Ariel in the Little Mermaid, when she was taking a bubble bath in Eric’s castle.

When all of the bubbles popped and your hands were sufficiently pruned, you drained the tub and rinsed yourself clean. After you dried your hair, you heard a knock on your door. 

“I brought you some clothes,” Ignis said. You opened the door slightly and took a bag. “Also, I found a locket in your jeans, I put it in your new shorts pocket.”

“Thanks!” you said, putting your hair back in a neat bun. Inside the bag was a black sports bra, black hipster undies, black cotton T-shirt, and black linen shorts. _What... the...? Did he actually buy underwear for me?_ You thought with huge eyes as you put everything on. 

When you opened the bathroom door, some steam leaked out into the living room. Ignis was jotting some things down in his pocket notebook.

“Whew! Boy am I refreshed,” you said. “Thanks for the clothes. How did you know my size?”

“Oh, I just estimated and told the concierge to find some suitable pieces. I’m glad they fit,” he said nonchalantly. _Estimated? When did he ever give you an old look-down?_ “Are you alright? You have bruises on your legs. And your face.” His look suddenly turned into concern. “Is that when-?”

You turned away and covered your left cheek. The slap left a bruise that was covered by the dirt on your face earlier.

“Did he always hit you like that?” he asked with a grave look, closing and setting aside his notebook.

“It’s… it’s not like that..” you said, with tears welling up in your eyes.

“Abuse should not be mistaken for affection,” he said.

“You don’t know him! And .. and… what are you, an EXPERT on relationships?” you said angrily. You thought you were both getting along, starting to become friends. _He’s just a naggy, nosey, good for nothing, insufferable-_

Ignis stopped dead. “Apologies. You’re right. I don’t know anything, I’ve never been in one.” He stood up.

You stormed out the front door and slammed it shut. Some hotel guests down the hallway turned and looked at you with shock, before quickly scanning their key to enter their room. You rushed out of the hallway to a private hotel deck area, and saw that the skies were no longer bright and sunny. The sun had set ( _did I bathe that long?_ ), the air was cold, and there were dark clouds forming.

You sat down at the edge, and let tears fall down your cheek and into the water. The crystal clear waters were murky now- you couldn’t see any fish swimming around. _Right. This is what this paradise really looks like, with its facade taken away. I knew this was too good to be true. My boring old life was perfect as it was .. wasn’t it?_ You had a job, a home. A boyfriend who loved you.. _I mean.._ Yeah, occasionally he lost his temper and hit you, but.. Everyone does that, right? 

You looked at your legs. There was a purple and green bruise on your knee. That was when you asked him why he was late to meet you for dinner. He pushed you against a wall and demanded to know why you questioned him. _It’s none of your business._ He made sure you’d cover up your scars, with long pants. You didn’t tell anyone, not even your best friend Cindy. She wouldn’t know what to do, she never dated anyone.

 _Cindy_.. You lost your phone a while ago. She must so worried about you- you haven’t texted her in ages. You reached into your pocket before realizing your new phone was still in the hotel room, and found the necklace Ignis said he extracted from your dirty jeans pocket.

Your ex-boyfriend surprised you with some roses in the morning before your last shift at the diner. “Have a good day honey!” his note said on your table, with a locket on top of it. You put it in your pocket before heading to work and forgot about it until now. 

You start singing your favorite sad song as you admired the heart-shaped locket. Singing was always your therapy, it was a cathartic release of your turbulent emotions. The air was very cold now. _Why is it so cold all of a sudden?_

The locket opened with the click of the release on the right. It swung open to reveal a picture of your ex on the left. On the right.. It was… not you. You were shocked and confused. The picture on the right was of the girl you hated from high school. What was she doing here?? She was the other woman? 

_So it was true.. How did you never know?? How long has it been??_

_Why the fuck did he give me this?_

_He must have bought two necklaces and switched them up. Stupid asshole… jerk!!!_

You were also stupid.. so naive...

You angrily threw the necklace into the water. The locket slowly sank into the darkness, and you let the last chain of your old life disappear into oblivion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't want to specify too much character preferences so readers can best see themselves in MC, but if you were curious, here were the songs I heard:
> 
> Latest summer hit: I'm The One - DJ Khaled  
> Favorite sad song: Almost Is Never Enough - Ariana Grande & Nathan Sykes


	6. Chaos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Insomnia falls and the team is on the lam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A fast paced one.. lots of actual game dialogue, some tweaked/paraphrased etc. Some character ages shifted up .. for my own benefit :P
> 
> Hammered out the edits right before my migraine kicked in..

The skies were dark now, and the birds were quiet. The crashing of the waves rippled the moonlight across the ocean. A quick glimmer of light shot across the sky, cutting across the garden of stars. A shooting star.

 _I just .. I just want to be happy_ , you wished. _Is that too much to ask_? The wind brought warmer air back into the area, calming your spirit. Tiredness washed over you as you lied down on the wood and closed your eyes.

The next thing you know, you awake to the smell of coffee. There was an extremely soft bed underneath you, and a fluffy down blanket covering you. You felt like you were sleeping on a cloud. _How did I get here?_ On the bed to your right, you saw Noctis drooling onto his pillow, and Prompto next to him snoring and sprawled out. The sofa in the living area was empty.

Even though the bed was warm, you got up shivering. Your throat felt itchy. You walked towards the kitchen area where the coffee smell was coming from. Ignis was sitting down at the dining table, looking on his phone. He got up when he noticed that you walked in.

“Here, put on this coat. I’m afraid you’re catching a cold,” he said, taking off his coat and walking towards you to wrap it around your body. His purple leopard print shirt underneath was perfectly tailored to his body.

“Thanks.. you brought me back in here?” you asked. His coat felt impossibly warm, assuaging the bitter cold of your skin.

“I found you sleeping at the edge of the outside deck,” he said with a stern look on his face, crossing his arms. 

“I’m sorry.. about everything,” you said. You blushed, realizing that he actually carried you back into the hotel room. _How did I not wake up?... I wonder if he thought I was heavy_...

“No, I was the one out of line,” he said. “I was insensitive. I can't imagine how it feels to experience what you went through.”

“No. I was wrong. You’ve done nothing but help me,” you said. “I won’t take your kindness for granted. Thank you..” You hugged the coat closer to your body and sat down at the dining table.

“Coffee?” he asked you, walking over to the pot he brewed.

“Sure,” you said. He poured and handed you a mug of his favorite coffee, Ebony. You put your hands around the mug for warmth.

When you didn’t drink it, he asked, “you take it with cream and sugar?”

“Yeah.. black is too intense for me. I haven't graduated to becoming a real adult yet haha,” you said. He set down a porcelain container for sugar and a container of half and half onto the table, in front of your mug.

“Everyone travels at their own pace. Gladio is 30 and his meal of choice is still cup noodles,” Ignis said, sitting down next to you, shaking his head.

Your conversation was cut short when your phones rang an emergency alert text message: “INSOMNIA HAS FALLEN”.

“What? .. Today’s not April Fool’s..” your smile quickly faded away. As you said that, a someone banged on the door with urgency. Ignis rushed over to open the door. It was Gladio, with a newspaper bunched up in his hand.

“Did you hear??” Gladio asked. He had a panicked look on his face, and his hair was a huge mess. 

“Is it true?” Ignis said. 

“Unfortunately,” he said gravely, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him.

“WHAT???” you shouted. 

In the distant bedroom area, Noct began to stir and groaned. “Heya… will you guys keep it down? Trying to get my beauty sleep here..” He rolled over to face Prompto and put his pillow over his head.

“Wake up,” Gladio said with force, walking over to the two of them.

“Huh? What? What’s up?” Prompto slowly rolled out of bed and rubbed his eyes. Gladio tossed the newspaper to Prompto, who caught it.

“What’s that look for?” Noctis said, peeping at Ignis, out of his blankets.

“Insomnia… falls…” Prompto read the headlines.

“What????” Noct said. He threw the blankets down onto the bed and grabbed the newspaper from Prompto. He stood up and started pacing the room.

“I need you to calm down so I can explain,” Ignis said. He walked over to Noct slowly. “The imperial army attacked and has taken the Crown City.

“The Niflheim negotiations went south, and the King was found dead,” Gladio said, sitting down on the sofa with his hand on his forehead.

“We had no way of knowing.. that the signing was last night...” Ignis said, putting a hand on Noct’s shoulder.

“But the wedding…??” Noct asked angrily, moving away Ignis’ hand.

“I know.. That was the plan. But how could every headline in the kingdom be wrong?” Ignis said.

“Lies….” Noct said with dark blue eyes filling to the brim with tears, sitting back down on the bed.

“We can’t be sure until we see it with our own eyes,” Gladio said, getting up. You took off Ignis' jacket and handed it to him. He put it back on himself absentmindedly.

Within the hour, everyone packed up their stuff and piled into the car, speeding down the highway. The skies were gray and raindrops pattered on top of the closed convertible roof. 

“I hope everyone’s okay..” Prompto said. He held his knees to his chest again, curled up into a ball of worry.

“A lot of good hoping’s going to do,” Noct said with his arms crossed, in the shotgun seat.

“You mustn’t lose faith,” Ignis said. He was driving well above the speed limit.

“Faith isn’t going to stop a fleet of imperial dreadnoughts,” Noct said, sinking lower into his seat.

“Give it a rest,” Gladio said, to your right. He looked out the window.

“The empire lied… they betrayed us,” Prompto said.

“Conjecture gets us nowhere, we’re searching for the truth,” Ignis said. Suddenly, giant ominous airships with red lights flew by in the skies, shaking the air with vibrations that rocked the car.

“What are those??” you asked.

“Imperial dreadnoughts. They transport soldiers, mainly magitek infantry,” Ignis said.

“What is magitek?” you said.

“Mass-produced humanoid weapons of warfare,” Ignis said. Up ahead on the road, a trail of cars have slowed to a stop in front of a large gate with huge robots walking around. There were also smaller, human-looking robots holding guns, marching around. “It looks like an inspection point..” 

Ignis drove the car off road to an empty area to the side of the blockade, and you all got out of the car. There was a run-down brick building with broken pillars, littered with storage boxes and heavy metal containers. Noct spotted some imperial soldiers patrolling the area, and angrily threw his sword at one’s helmet to warp to them. Ignis, Prompto, and Gladio all summoned their weapons and rushed to join the fight. 

This was the first time you saw them all in action. Prompto used two handguns, while Gladio wielded a sword larger than your whole body, and Ignis fought with daggers. They all moved around with confidence and had an inspiring cohesiveness to all of their coordinated attacks. After a few moments of watching them in awe, you realized that you should help them. 

You ran forward, taking shelter behind a few bricks of stacked concrete. A few stray bullets hit the ground next to you, pumping you full of adrenaline. You’d never been shot at before. _By soldiers no less!_ You quickly scanned the area, and saw that the boys took out a few riflemen already. They were running forward, deeper into the collapsed building. You ran out into the open to follow them when your area cleared up. 

_Dammit… I have no idea what I’m doing_.. you thought, holding your hands in front of you, shaking. Healing small animals and small cuts was one thing.. You just found out that you could conjure shields.. _How did I even do that?_ You concentrated on Noct, who was striking another soldier with his sword, and faced your right palm to him. _Please.. Protect him_. A weak halo surrounded him, and some bullets ricocheted off of him. Noct looked at you, nodded and mouthed _‘thanks’_.

Gladio finished the last rifleman, chopping the soldier in half down the middle with his broadsword. The five of you ran past the building onto a pathway inside a boulder canyon. The inclining pathway opened up to a hill overlooking a long bridge on large body of water.

“.. following the news of King Regis’ death, we’ve now received word that Crown Prince Noctis and the Oracle Lady Lunafreya have also been pronounced dead..” Prompto was streaming the news from his phone, when his slippery wet fingers dropped it to the ground.

“Don’t bother!!” Noct shouted at him. 

Dozens of airships caused a large amount of turbulence in the air surrounding you as they flew by, followed by a monstrous black battleship with two large red rotating columns on its side, flying directly over your heads.

Noct angrily took out his phone and started talking to someone.

“Hello? Cor?” Noctis said. “Outside the city.. we can’t get back in. Why did the news tell me that my father is dead, along with Luna and myself??” His eyes widened. He stood frozen, as the rain dripped onto his head. “Right…” He hung up the phone, and dropped his arm to his side.

“What did the marshal have to say?” Ignis asked him.

“Said he’d be in Hammerhead..” Noct replied.

“And the king?” Gladio asked. Noct didn’t look at him. His silence confirmed everyone’s worst fears.

\-----

“So what about us? What do we do now?” Prompto asked. You were all back in the car, driving on the road away from the blockade. He noticed that you were holding your hands together tightly and bit your lip. “Do you think it’ll be alright for her to be in Hammerhead?”

“With the state of chaos and the kingdom falling, I think she will be the least of everyone’s concern. If anyone asks, we extracted her because we needed her help with royal duties. Anyone’s disappearance that day was purely coincidental and we don’t anything about it,” Ignis said, adjusting his collar uncomfortably with his left hand. He wasn't one accustomed to lying, but you could tell he would do anything to protect his friends. You felt grateful for their protection. You didn't have many friends back home, you mostly kept to yourself, your ex-boyfriend, and Cindy. _These guys are your friends now.._

”I got a message from my sister. She fled to Lestallum with some other refugees,” Gladio said, typing a response back to her on his phone. 

“I’m glad Iris is ok,” Prompto said, with a weak smile.

“Me too. Doesn’t sound like everyone else was so lucky though,” Gladio said.

“We’d better make haste.. soon they will figure out that Noct is not dead,” Ignis said. He pushed the pedal further and the car smoothly accelerated.

“No going back.. only way’s forward,” Prompto said.

The canyons you were so familiar with since your childhood slowly came into view, as the Regalia sped forward. They were shrouded in mist, their bright red hues dulled to a white grey. This was something you didn’t often see- rain, in your hometown. Ignis pulled into the lot and parked the Regalia at the gas station. There was nobody around outside except Cindy, who was waiting in front of the convenience store. Prompto’s eyes lit up and he opened the car door to quickly get out.

“Glad y’all made it,” she said to Gladio. Her facial expression turned from relief to shock as you exited the car. “Where have you been Y/N?? You haven’t answered my texts or anything!!” She ran towards you and pulled you into a tight embrace.

“I’m sorry.. I lost my phone. I met these guys and was helping them on some errands,” you said. You were glad to see that she was ok, and felt guilty for lying to your best friend. Thankfully, she was an easygoing person and wasn’t too observant, typically.

“Where’s Cor?” Noct asked Cindy. 

“Went to see to some business, but left a message with paw-paw,” Cindy said, pointing towards the car shop, and you all headed into the garage. The lights were off, and Cid was sitting helplessly on an old tire, with his head hanging low. The five of you stood around him, but he was hiding his face under his baseball cap.

“They were after the crystal and the King all along,” Cid said. There was a desk with a framed picture of four men that you had never seen before. One man looked regal, holding a cup in his hand, and leaning against a fancy looking car. That must be the King, when he was younger. Another man looked like a military person, wearing a military beret with a his arms held behind his back. The third man you recognized as a younger Cid, wearing a light jacket and shading his eyes from the sun. The last person was a man with a buzz cut, wearing a dress shirt and a vest, crossing his arms.

Next to the picture frame were three issues of The Galdin Beacon, the top being today’s print with the headlines “INSOMNIA FALLS”.

“They played my father for a fool,” Noct said, his voice shaking. Ignis brought his hand to his face and massaged his furrowed brow.

“Don’t kid yourself. Reggie wasn’t born yesterday,” Cid said, taking a wrench in his hand and fiddling with it. He finally looked up at Noct. It seemed like his weathered face had more wrinkles than you ever remembered. “Lucis got dealt a losing hand and he played it the best he could. He saw this coming, and he didn’t go down without a fight. In the end though.. It just wasn’t enough. I can’t even remember the last time I saw Reggie.. Feels like a lifetime ago.” Cid got up with an arm supporting his arched back.

“Cor’s at the Tomb of the Wise. It’s north of The Three Valleys. Here’s where it is on the map,” Cid said, turning around and unfolding a map he took out of his pocket. “Good luck.” He handed it to Noct and walked out of the garage.  
\-----

The five of you finally saw an interesting round, white brick structure hidden in a cavity of the rocky plains after about a five mile hike. There were stairs and intricate patterns on the walls leading up to the entrance, which had a statue of a lady holding a sword above it. Noct pushed the double doors open, and a man who was waiting inside turned around to face you all.

He was wearing a black military jacket, had short dark brown hair, a goatee stubble, and piercing narrowed blue eyes. The room was dark and circular, made of stone bricks, with green hooded statues holding shields along the walls. There was a large stone tomb about six feet long, trimmed with gold and fashioned in the shape of a king holding a sword. Behind the man was a green statue of a hooded lady holding a golden sword, a black regal arch and banners decorating the space around her.

“Marshal,” Ignis greeted him with a bow.

“At last, your highness,” Cor said. He walked closer to Noct.

“Yeah… wanna tell me what I’m here for?” Noct said, crossing his arms.

“The power of kings, passed from the old to the new through the bonding of souls,” Cor said, his hands hovering above the tomb. “One such soul lies here before you. It is your duty and birthright as king to claim your forebears’ powers.”

“My duty as King of what…” Noct said, with his head bowed. Ignis and Gladio both looked at Noct with slightly open mouths. Prompto held his right arm with his left hand and looked at you.

“Now’s not the time to question your calling,” Cor said firmly. “A king is sworn to protect his people.”

“And yet he only managed to protect one prince,” Noct said, furiously.

“How long will you remain protected? The king entrusted the role of protector to you,” Cor said.

“Then why didn’t he tell me?? Why did he stand there smiling as I left??” Noct said, and grabbed onto the edge of the tomb. “Why did he lie to me?” 

Ignis, Prompto, Gladio, and you all looked at each other, at a loss for words.

“That day, he didn’t want you to remember him as the king. He wanted to be your father, for what little time you had left together. He always had faith in you, that when the time came you would ascend for the sake of your people,” Cor said. Noct sniffed and wipe away a few tears.

“Guess he left me no choice,” Noct said. He put his arm over the tomb and the sword the old king was holding glowed bright blue, blinding you all and floating out of the statue’s grasp. The five of you slowly backed away from the tomb, unsure of what was going to happen next. 

The dazzling sword flew higher in the air, hovering above the tomb for a few moments. Suddenly it flew towards Noctis, piercing him square in the chest, blade first. The sword shattered into many translucent crystals floating around him. His chest glowed blue where the sword hit, and the sword became a part of him, now upright and circling around him rapidly.

“The power of kings goes with you, your Majesty,” Cor said. “However, your journey has just begun. There are tombs scattered across the land, all on dangerous grounds. Another tomb lies close by. I suggest you head to Keycatrich Trench next. I’ll go with you.. to help and to get a measure of your strength.” He started walking out of the entrance to lead the way.

“So.. how many of these powers are out there?” Noct asked, as everyone else left the tomb with him.

“There are thirteen known royal arms enshrined in royal tombs, although we only know the location of a few,” Cor responded. “I’ve enlisted the help of Hunters to comb the land in search of the lost tombs.” His eyes rested on you, and you blushed from the sudden attention, feeling very out of place. “And who’s this?”

“Uhh.. she’s a friend. A healer. Saved our asses in a rough spot,” Noct said, gesturing for you to introduce yourself.

“Y/N, pleasure to meet you,” you said, shaking his hand. 

“Cor Leonis. Head of the Crownsguard. Thank you for your protection of his Majesty,” he said. He held your gaze, looking into your eyes as if he was mesmerized for a few moments. “Are you from the Crown City?”

“No.. I’m from Hammerhead,” you replied.

“You look familiar. We must have met before?” Cor said with a thoughtful expression, scratching his bearded chin.

“No, I don’t think so,” you said. It suddenly dawned on you that he was one of the men from Cid’s picture. “You’ve been to Hammerhead though!”

“That’s correct. It was decades ago, possibly 20 or so years ago,” Cor said. “That was last time I saw Cid.”


	7. Camaraderie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Learning to warp and playing a drinking game with the boys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably the most lighthearted chapter so far, amidst all of the darkness. Tried researching more lore to explain some of the questions I had while playing the game.
> 
> I apologize, didn't comb through the chapter for edits much.. will probably do that later.

“20 years ago.. Not sure if I would have remembered that,” you said, watching your step as you followed him down a dusty, rocky trail.

“Coulda been longer. Don’t really remember. I was always busy chauffeuring the King around,” Cor said. Suddenly, he looked as if he remembered something. He wiped a bead of sweat from his tanned forehead. “So you can heal? Can you do other stuff?”

“Umm.. well..” you said, looking at Noct to your side. He nodded at you. “I can .. conjure shields?”

“Speak with confidence. There’s no place in this chaos for the timid,” Cor said, startling you with the sudden lecture. “And you didn’t lend her these powers?” Cor addressed Noct.

“No..” Noct said.

“Interesting.. Can you try teaching her to warp? No, no.. wait… she’ll need to learn how to summon weapons first,” Cor said.

“Umm .. yeah, sure,” Noct said. “I’ll do what I can.” 

“Something’s come up,” Cor said, stopping abruptly and looking at his phone. “I apologize, Your Highness, I will have to rendezvous with you at Keycatrich Ruins.”

“What? But the sun is setting already,” Gladio said, walking forward from behind you.

“Yes..” Cor said, pausing to contemplate. “You’re right. I’d advise you to set up camp nearby for tonight and travel in the daylight tomorrow.” He left swiftly, running off in the other direction.

“Well, that was weird. He said he was going to help but and then totally left immediately,” Noct said, with a disgruntled look on his face.

“Man’s busy.. He lost a lot of soldiers yesterday.. I'm just glad he made it out alive. He really is the Immortal,” Gladio said, with a frown and crossing his arms.

The five of you trekked your way back down the hill to the car as the sunlight disappeared, and unpacked all of your gear in an area nearby that was grassy, soft, and more level. 

“This will do nicely for camp,” Ignis said, setting up his portable stove and unfolding a few camping chairs. Gladio laid a few firewood logs and started lighting a fire with a match. Noct, Prompto, and you helped pitch a tent near the fire.

“I found some extra blankets you can use,” Prompto said to you while he was threading a pole through the hole you were holding. 

“Thanks. I’m sure I’ll be warm by the fire,” you said, standing the arched pole upright and connecting it to the stake on the ground with a string.

“Fire? You should sleep in the tent. You’re one of us now,” Noct said. He draped the tent cover over the top and tied the corners to each tent corner.

“Oh..” you said, looking at Prompto and Noct. The flames of the fire were reflected and dancing on their faces, lighting up their warm smiles. Their expressions were innocent enough but still... _sleeping in the tent.. with four men?_

“There’s plenty of room,” Gladio said, standing up and clapping his hands to get rid of the ashes.

“Not if you take up most of the space…” Noct said, earning him a punch from Gladio.

“Dinner’s ready!” Ignis called. He set five plates down, and arranged four chairs around the table. He conjured up a wooden storage box from somewhere and sat on it.

“Oh, I can sit on that..” you said to Ignis.

“No, no, I insist,” Ignis said, smiling unexpectedly, as if you did a great favor for him. “Thank you for offering.” 

“So what is this?” you asked as you all took your seats. The bowl in front of you housed pieces of beef, tomatoes, beets, onions, and potatoes submerged in a red stew, garnished with some thyme. 

“Meat and Beet Bouillon,” he replied. The rest of the guys already started devouring their portions, but Ignis was staring at you, waiting for you to try yours. You scooped a spoonful of the broth and a single chunk of meat and tasted it. 

“WHOA!” you said, startling everyone.

“Is something wrong? Is it too salty?” Ignis asked you with concern.

“No.. it’s delicious!!” you said. Ignis broke into a huge smile, something you've never seen before, and finally started to eat. “Y’all weren’t kidding when you said he’s a good cook.” 

“Is the portion enough? I was actually hoping for you to not be too full..” Ignis said. When you gave him a questioning look, he put down his spoon gently and said, “I thought that we’d begin with your training tonight.”

“What? So soon?” Noct said. “Let her catch a breath man. We’re all tired.”

“You heard what the Marshal said. The sooner we find out what she can do, the more we can accomplish as a group,” Gladio said, defending Ignis.

“Is that ok?” Ignis turned and asked you. 

“Oh, ya.. of course,” you said, surprised that he was giving you a choice.

\----

After dinner was finished, Prompto started cleaning up the dishes while you, Noct, Ignis, and Gladio took a few paces away from the campsite. 

“This should be enough space,” Ignis said. He unbuttoned his jacket and revealed three daggers strapped to his belt. He unsheathed one and handed it to you. It was a steel dagger, and had a very intimidating shaped- a thick width and point, curved down with another sharp edge flaring out before the handle. The carvings on the blade and handle were intricate designs. You stared at him with disbelief. You’d never held an actual weapon before. “Take this. It's yours now. We’ll need to test if you have the ability to warp.”

“Warp?.. Like the way the Prince does?” you asked, gulping and taking the dagger with shaking hands.

“That’s correct,” Ignis said. “It’s an extremely rare ability, even within the Kingsglaive, and is a power bestowed upon soldiers by the King. Unfortunately because they utilize borrowed powers.. ” 

“If the King falls, they also become powerless,” Noct said, drawing a line in the dirt with his shoe. The three of you looked at each other uneasily as Noct continued to stare at the ground. 

“Not everyone can use magic?” you asked.

“No. However, magic is present throughout the land.” He took out a notebook from his pocket and showed you some sketches and diagrams as he continued to talk. “There’s elemental magic (fire, ice, lightning), earth magic (healing), arcane magic (from the crystal), and dark magic (some of which I suspect is being used by Niflheim in addition to their technology). Most who are able to wield magic were granted this power by the Astrals. One example is the royal line of Lucians, and they are able to choose some people to use their magic by proxy. Noct gives us the ability to summon weapons, and he harvests depletable magic into flasks that Prompto, Gladio, and I can use,” Ignis explained. 

“His Highness here isn’t strong enough to lend us the power of warping, unfortunately, and so we weren’t trained for it back when we were in the Citadel,” Gladio said. 

“So.. are you guys Kingsglaives?” you asked, confused.

“Oh, no. The three of us are members of the Crownsguard. We are here to protect the royal family, akin to bodyguards.. Kingsglaive are more like soldiers in the military,” Gladio said.

“They are Lucis’ most skilled and elite soldiers. Talented warriors and mages that are able to successfully use borrowed powers to serve the King. It seems we may have lost many of them during the fall of Insomnia,” Ignis said gravely.

“I see..” you said. 

“Well, let’s see what you can do! First you have to learn how to summon weapons,” Noct said. “Hold the dagger in your hand tightly and focus all of your energy on it.”

You gripped the handle in front of your face and stared at the blade. Suddenly, it glowed bright blue and shattered into pieces. The floating specks were the same kind of crystals you saw at the tomb earlier when Noct was receiving the royal weapon. 

“Oh no!!! It’s gone!!” you said, your mouth hanging open.

“Don’t freak out. Just try to summon it again,” Noct said. “Focus. The same hand. Visualize it materializing in your hand.” He held out his right arm with his palm facing up in front of him, as an example for you to imitate.

 _This is ridiculous.. How can-_ In another flash of blue, crystals formed around you and pieced together into the same dagger.

“Holy moly…” you said, turning the dagger around and inspecting if it was real.

“Wow! You learn fast,” Noct said, smiling. “The real challenge though, is trying to warp… even some people who can, don’t like to do it. There was a really gifted soldier who was well known for being an expert at warping in the Kingsglaive, but everyone else ..”

“Why don’t they like doing it?” you asked. _Fast traveling everywhere? Never having to walk? Lol_. You excitedly imagined the possibilities.

“Well.. I don’t know if you’ve ever been on a roller coaster.. Or if you’ve ever jumped off a cliff..” Noct said, as you looked at him with wide eyes. “It feels like that. _A rush_. Not really for the weak of heart... If you don’t focus correctly, or haven’t had enough practice, you can seriously injure yourself.” He grabbed your right hand in his and continued his explanation. “Don’t worry.. Just pick a safe, distance NOT TOO FAR AWAY to warp. Toss the dagger, and then visualize yourself at the dagger’s new location.” He moved your hand in the motion of a quick flick to show you how to to throw it, then he let go of your hand to let you try it by yourself.

The three of them looked at you with anticipation. You inhaled a huge breath, gritted your teeth, and tossed the dagger to an empty space a good distance away from the three of them. You held out your hand and concentrated as hard as you could to touch the dagger. WHOOSH!

Your body propelled forward at light speed, and you felt yourself move so quickly that it felt like your body left your soul behind. _Not a great feeling... at all._ The dagger was gripped tightly in your hand as you collapsed to the ground onto your hands and knees, panting. 

“Hey!! You alright there?” Noct shouted.

The world was swirling around you, as the ground and sky melted into each other and you threw up onto the ground. _Welp, there goes dinner_. Gladio groaned loudly as he watched you.

“Good job!!” Noct said, in an amused but supportive way. You spit out the rest of the vomit in your mouth, and walked back towards them with jelly legs.

“Welp. I’m definitely never doing that _ever_ again,” you said. 

“You performed extremely well,” Ignis said. “For your first time, that was very impressive. Many new recruits don’t even manage to budge at all.” He was deep in thought, scribbling some things into the notebook, flipping back and forth from some pages.

You started feeling dizzy again, and started swaying while standing. Gladio held you by your arm and started leading you back to the campfire. 

“That’s enough for one day. Enough for all of us..” Gladio said. The unspoken pain in his voice was shared by the rest of them. It was too much to handle. Was it really this morning they heard the news? Their home was destroyed today, their families whereabouts unknown, and their futures uncertain. “I need a drink.” 

After Gladio sat you down on a camping chair, he went to the Regalia and rummaged around the trunk to find some fancy-looking bottles of hard liquor that he brought back. Thankfully, you recovered from your nausea already, or you couldn't imagine drinking after throwing up. Everyone was situated around the fire now, collapsed into their seats. Ignis looked at the bottles disapprovingly. 

“If you’re really going to be one of us.. We should learn more about you. And you of us,” Gladio said to you, taking a swig of bourbon. He took off his jacket, showing off his extremely muscular and toned shoulders and abs, spreading his legs and leaning back into his chair. “Why don’t we play a game?” 

“Why don’t we drink responsibly and not throw up everywhere?” Ignis said.

“The world has gone to shit, Iggs. I just want to forget about everything for a night. Would it kill you to understand??” Gladio said. Ignis looked at him and pursed his lips.

“Yeah. I’m down,” you said. He handed you, and everyone else a bottle. Yours was a crystal clear bottle in the shape of a skull. Everyone in the Crown City sure loves skull designs on everything.. Noctis had a bottle of blue vodka in the shape of a crystal, Prompto was admiring his bottle of whiskey in the shape of a grenade, and Ignis held his bottle of green absinthe that was in the shape of snake.

“Never have I ever. If you have done whatever the person says they’ve never done, take a swig,” Gladio said. “I’ll start. Never have I ever.. Dated anyone.” He said smirking. “Drink up, bitches,” he said pointing to you and Noct.

“Why don’t you?” you asked Gladio. He sat up and rubbed his hands together. 

“That involves getting to know someone.. And I don’t want to date people I know. Imagine how awkward and annoying life would be if things didn’t work out and you have to see them all the time,” Gladio said. 

“Some day when you fall hard for someone, you’ll be regretting this flippant attitude of yours,” Ignis said. Gladio just shrugged at him.

“Well, technically Luna and I are just friends..” Noct said.

“Nuh-uh. You aren’t worming your way out of this one, loverboy,” Gladio said.

“Ugh, fine,” Noct drank from his bottle as you took a sip from yours. “My turn. Never have I ever… slept with anyone.”

“Heh.. I’ll gladly drink to that, my little virgins” Gladio said, drinking from his bottle. Nobody else drank with him. He looked at you and stopped smiling. “You’re not drinking?”

“I’ve never,” you said.

“Bullshit,” Gladio said. “You? A virgin?”

“That’s rude!” you said. At least the red glow from the fire hid the crimson blush you felt hot on your face. 

“You’re way too hot for that to be possible. You even made Cor, a man who has no emotions at all, stare at you entranced, like you’re some sort of siren. You think I didn’t notice?” Gladio said.

“Everyone is super religious and conservative in Hammerhead. If you have sex before marriage, the Six will smite you down..” you said. 

“Well, we all know someone who was smote..” Gladio said. It took you a few moments to realize he was talking about your ex-boyfriend, and you opened your mouth in shock.

“Dude… too soon,” Noct said, shooting you a sympathetic look.

“Anyways….” It was Prompto’s turn, and he was desperately trying to make things less awkward. “Never have I ever… warped.” 

“Dammit! You’re supposed to be on my side,” Noct said, punching Prompto playfully. You looked at Noct with a smile and a sigh, and you both drank.

It was your turn now. Was this was a cheap move? “Never have I ever… been attracted to a woman.” 

Gladio shrugged and immediately took a large gulp of alcohol. Prompto laughed and took a few sips of his. Noct shook his head and smiled while drinking. Then, they all looked at Ignis. He unscrewed the cap to his bottle and almost took a sip when he realized everyone was staring at him. 

“Specs??? You liked someone and didn’t tell me?? You’ve spurned all the girls at the Citadel .. said they were…” Noct held up fingers to air quote, “ ‘disingenuous sycophants’?? You sneaky liar..” Noct said, surprised, smiling, and slightly annoyed.

“And that statement wasn’t false. I have been attracted to some, physically, but it is true that I couldn’t look past their personalities,” Ignis said, betraying no emotion on his face.

“Who did you like??” Prompto asked, sitting up in his seat excitedly, splashing some drops of alcohol onto the ground.

“Mum’s the word,” Ignis said with a smirk, as he drank. You caught a flash of green eyes looking at you, and within a moment he broke the glance. Noct narrowed his eyes staring at Ignis, trying to figure out his cryptic response. “My turn. Never have I ever.. Missed work or school ... because I was sick.”

“Dammit Iggy.. that's gotta be the least scandalous thing I'd _ever_ want to learn about anyone,” Gladio said, as the five of you laughed and drank while Ignis crossed his arms and legs triumphantly.


	8. Embarrassment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath + training with Gladio

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told myself I would never make y'all wait so long for another chapter.. but never say never, I guess :( life has been too chaotic recently but I wanted to at least release SOMETHING. Sorry for this short one! Hopefully it entertains you nonetheless. Also didn't really edit, will probably get around to it at some point >_<

You felt some hair poking your face as you stirred. Someone had their arm around you and was breathing into your face. You felt warm and comfy, but there was sharp pain in your temples. You pried open your eyelids and saw that Noctis’ face was centimeters away from your face. _What the f-_? You struggled to remember what happened after the drinking game, and came up with nothing. You lifted his heavy arm off of you, your movement waking up Gladio who was lying next to you, who in turn woke up Ignis next to him. 

“Somebody’s cozy,” Gladio smirked, giving you side eye while still lying on his pillow. 

“What! I didn’t ..” you looked at him indignantly. Ignis put on his glasses and didn’t look as amused as Gladio was; he fumbled around to put on his coat and exited the tent. 

“Anyways, time for your morning run and some sparring with me,” Gladio said, moving out of his sleeping bag and yawning. 

“What? No way..” you said, massaging your head. You uncovered the sheets from your body, to find with relief all of your clothes still on. _Ok, that’s good.._

“Oh yeah, yesterday night you said you were SO PUMPED, ready to start training with me. You’re not slacking off on my watch. I already have one princess too many to deal with,” Gladio pointed to Noct, who rolled away from the two of you, deep in sleep.

“Ugh….why would I say that?” You sighed and started getting concerned. _What else did I say_? “Ok. I’m up,” You fully emerged from your toasty blankets and readjusted your hair bun. The air was surprisingly comfortable- room temperature. You unzipped the entrance of the tent to reveal the sunrise illuminating the grassy plains, and crawled out. Gladio exited soon after you, and already started stretching his calf muscles, leaning against the fold-up table.

“We’ll just do a quick loop,” he said, breaking into a jog. You found your shoes at the entrance of the tent and tied your laces, and then followed running behind him. “Keep up the pace!”

“I can’t..” you huffed. He was already well ahead of you. “You’re going too fast..”

“Ha! That’s what she said,” Gladio said, smirking and looking back at you. He slowed down to let you catch up. “Anyways, you gotta step it up if you’re going to learn how to fight. Enemies are fast, and dodging is like, 90% of what we do. If we took every blow, we’d be too beat up to defeat them.”

“That… makes….. sense….” you said. He was running at a slower pace now. You tried moving your legs faster, but still couldn’t keep up with Gladio. After what felt like an hour (but was only 10 minutes) of running, you finally returned to the campsite. Gladio stopped to continue stretching while you walked towards the fire.

You saw Noctis emerge from the tent and Ignis appearing to be scolding him. They didn’t seem to notice your presence, so you caught some of their conversation.

“You really ought to watch your behavior, Noct. Do not forget that regardless of the attack on the city, you are still betrothed,” Ignis said sternly.

“What do you mean by _that_?” Noct asked.

“This morning in the tent..” Ignis said.

“What?” Noct rubbed his eyes. “Oh.. it was an accident. I thought I was hugging Prompto.”

Ignis walked away from him, towards the cooking stove and noticed that you were bent over, trying to catch your breath. You expected him to ask you if you were ok, as his usual tendency, but he quickly looked away and started fumbling around the stove. Noctis looked at you and then looked at Ignis, and put his hand on his chin, deep in thought. 

“Hey Noct. Got any extra swords?” Gladio suddenly appeared to ask him. 

“Oh yeah. Here, take these,” Noct said, lazily summoning a simple blade in a flash of blue without even looking, holding out a simple steel blade about the length of your arm. He summoned another one in his other hand, that Gladio took.

“Thanks,” you said, taking one in your hand and focusing your energy to receiving the essence to be able to store and summon your new sword. You crushed it and it disintegrated into many floating crystals, and then materialized it again in your hand.

“Okay..” you said with uncertainty to Gladio, who took a few air swings with the sword. The sight was rare and hilarious- such a small sword used by such a big guy. It was like he was holding a toothpick or something.

“Alright. Now that we’re all warmed up,” Gladio said as you looked at him with the most tired expression on your face, which he ignored, “I’ll be teaching you single-handed sword basics today.” 

He motioned for you to imitate his stance. He held the sword in front of you, showing you his grip on the handle- his thumb and first two fingers gripping strongly and the rest of his fingers curled around the hilt. He stood with both legs, shoulder-width apart with his right foot slightly forward, knees slightly bent, with his weight on the balls of his feet. You never thought that a buff muscle guy like Gladio could look so elegant. 

“You don’t look like this when you fight,” you said, positioning your hand on the sword, and your body facing Gladio in the same manner as his body.

“That’s cuz I’m carrying a big-ass sword. These are just the basics anyways, so don’t get cheeky with me young lady,” Gladio said. He touched your sword with his and rotated it while dragging the blade playfully. 

“These are just guidelines for sparring with people. Things are pretty unpredictable with monsters, so you'll have to be good at improvising. Anyways, attacks are always lead by stepping forward with the same side foot as your leading arm. In defense, you withdraw the foot on the same side that you are attacked,” he said while demonstrating the movements. He made a slow move towards your left side as you tried to do as he told you and moved your left foot back to dodge.

“Ok, there are 8 basic attacks. Vertical downward swing on an enemy’s head, right and left 45 degree downward swings, right and left gut and leg swings that may be downward or horizontal, and finally thrusts where you poke them straight on,” Gladio said, showing each attack as he explained them. 

You tried imitating him and remembering the motions. Swing down from top to bottom.. Then horizontal swings.. Gladio, unsatisfied with your strokes, moved behind you and held your arms firmly to show you the correct movements. You felt your heart beat faster as his ultra-tight abs pressed against your back, and his strong biceps against your arms. He was huge, towering over you, enveloping you in a subtle scent of pine and firewood. 

“When defending, keep your sword tip facing up in neutral position, and when you are defending your right and left shoulders. Otherwise, keep the sword tip down when defending your gut or legs. The specific positioning is to protect your fingers from getting hit. To stop a vertical hit from above, hold the sword horizontally over your head,” he continued, moving your arm for you, in the directions he was describing.

“Well it’s too dangerous for us to spar with actual weapons, so just practice those moves by yourself for now. Ask me if you have any questions,” Gladio said, letting you go and brushing dust off his shirt. He walked over to put another firewood log onto the campfire, and stoked it to coax the flames out. You continued rotating through the different swings and practicing the moves for another hour or so.

“Good morning everyone!” Prompto suddenly popped his head out of the tent. You walked towards the campfire and took a seat next to Noct. _It feels so good to relax_.. Your legs were burning from the run and your upper body and arm were sore from the training.

“Mornings are the worst,” Noct said, slumping into a camping chair and taking out his phone to play some King’s Knight. “How do you not have a hangover?”

“Oh, my head definitely hurts.. But last night was so fun!” Prompto said cheerfully.

“How does everyone remember what happened? Did I really drink that much?” you asked.

“What? You don’t remember?? We all got trashed .. we even sang a duet together!!” Prompto pouted, and sat down next to Noct. _Oh god… why_? “You have an amazing voice! I recorded it!!” 

“You did what..?” you said in disbelief. Prompto whipped out his camera and navigated through many screens of videos in his gallery. He pressed play on video of you and him, singing dramatically while walking around the fire. 

“How did you record it if you were in it?” you asked, raising your eyebrow at him.

“Gladio did,” Prompto said. “He was the only one who had stable enough hands to hold the camera at that point.” 

“I swear if you continue to play that video I will kill you…” you said. 

“Agh!!! Okay, okay!” he promptly pressed the pause button. He continued scrolling through his camera videos when the last one caught your eye. 

“What’s that one?” you asked, pointing to his screen.

“Ha! I forgot that I took this one. You were tired and stumbled back to the tent and almost fell,” Prompto said, handing you the camera. A red-faced but still relatively put-together Ignis caught you. 

“Oh god, how embarrassing,” you said, covering your face with your left hand. You saw yourself, shit-faced with a dazed look in your eyes, talking to Ignis while he held you in his arms:

_"Who's the lucky guy?" you slurred._

_"..I beg your pardon??" Ignis said back to you._

_"You must.. You must belong to someone," you said._

_"I'm not gay," he replied with a calm tone, but visibly annoyed._

_"Ha! You're too perfect to be straight," you suddenly turn away from him to cough. He looked at you with surprised, huge eyes from what you said. Then, he gently put you down to the ground and returned with some cough medicine he fed to you with a spoon._

“Then you climbed into the tent and passed out after taking the soporific,” Prompto declared. “Everyone else followed closely behind after..”

You heard the clatter of a knife onto the cutting board and some profanity nearby. 

“You okay there Specs? You never cut yourself,” Noct said lazily, looking up from his phone. 

“I’m fine,” Ignis replied. Despite his claim, he was looking down at his left hand, and you noticed that a few drops of blood fell from his finger onto the cutting board. You got up and walked towards him as he tried to wrap his hand with a spare rag. 

“Please, it’s nothing,” he said, withdrawing his hand from your reach. You smiled and grabbed his hand with both of your hands anyways. As you made contact, you felt a surge of electricity, and like a blown fuse, a sudden burst of yellow glow emanated from his hand and he pulled it quickly away from yours. No one else seemed to notice- Prompto was looking through more photos on his camera, Gladio started packing the camping supplies, and Noct was dozing off in his camping chair. Ignis slid off the gloves from his fingers, and inspected his hand. The blood had stained his gloves, but his wound was gone.

“Thank you,” Ignis said, lowering his head and resuming his fruit cutting.

“No problem,” you said. You awkwardly walked away, wondering if he remembered the events of last night.


	9. Insecurity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keycatrich and learning magic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, as usual :/ been a combination of being crushed at work and this being a slow chapter for me to complete. Thanks for your comments, kudos, and support! Love you all <3 
> 
> PS: sorry in advance- didn't really edit thoroughly.. someday when I have time..

“Keycatrich was once a prosperous residential area, home to rich and famous Lucians. Unfortunately, it was all reduced to rubble during the great war, when the scope of the wall was scaled back,” Ignis said, as the five of you followed a trail within a ravine that transitioned to being encompassed by a large and old-looking wall. You couldn’t help but admire how Ignis was a walking encyclopedia. _How does his brain have so much storage and access?_

When the path opened up, the scenery turned into an expanse of dried grass and ruins. There were shells of old buildings- doorways and pillars, scattered across the land. Giant pieces of machinery- tanks and drop ships lied half-buried, wedged into the earth, rusted and overtaken by weeds. Before you could appreciate the history this place once held, a giant rhino/elephant-looking animal awoke with a roar and turned to look at your group.

“That doesn’t look friendly,” Noct said as the monster charged at you all, causing the ground to quake.

“A Garulessa,” Ignis replied, with a bead of sweat sliding down his left temple. “Some are friendly, but it seems these are upset already because of some disturbance to their home. She is accompanied by a few Garulets; younger Garula. Their horns provide some resistance to our weapons. It will be in our best interest to remove those first.” He summoned his daggers and started throwing them at the enemy. 

“I don’t like those numbers..” Gladio said, summoning his greatsword and rushing towards the animal. Prompto summoned his guns, and looked at you.

“Will you be ok?” he asked you with heartwarming concern. 

“Yeah. I’ll do what I can to help,” you said with confidence. Your sword materialized into your hands upon will, and you gripped the hilt tightly.

“Ok. Don’t overextend yourself. You just learned how to summon a sword yesterday.. There’s no shame in being careful,” he said. He coordinated with Noct to shoot at the beasts’ weak points while you contemplate your next steps. 

_If I try to hit the enemy with my sword, I’ll be too close range and that robot thing will crush me.. I’ll just be a burden to everyone.._

You decided that as a novice swordfighter you needed more practice on easier enemies, so you put away your sword and focused your energies on shielding your allies. Noct was darting in and out of the machine’s crevices, getting in some hits on the enemy’s rough skin here and there. You held out your hand, palm facing Noct and concentrated on following his figure as he moved around like an acrobat. A translucent pearly bubble formed around him, and the Garulessa’s hits bounced off of the shield, causing the enemy to recoil and stumble backwards.

Noct whipped his head around and looked at you, giving you two thumbs up and a big smile. You smiled back and looked around at the other boys fighting, most of them dealing with the smaller beasts successfully. The giant “mother” of the herd charged at them with blind rage for attacking the Garulets, and the four of them prepared a coordinated attack. Ignis marked the enemy’s weak points by throwing daggers at the machine’s arm and leg joints, Noct warp-struck to those points and slashed at them, Prompto shot blasts from his dual guns, and Gladio whirled around, hitting her with his greatsword. 

You created a shield around Gladio, as he was the closest target to the enemy. Unfortunately, he was so tall that the orb you created around him only covered his body until his neck. He looked like he was a giant baby chick hatching out of an egg. Prompto burst out laughing as you embarrassingly bit your lips and focused more energy to him, eventually expanding the shield to cover his head.

The enormous monster was finally defeated. After its collapse and the surrounding dust settled, a pathway to a tunnel into the rocky mound was revealed. 

“That’s it!” An exclamation startled you. You looked around and saw Ignis slicing off some meat from the fallen Garulessa with his dagger.

“What’s up Iggy?” Gladio asked, inspecting Ignis’ harvesting skills.

“I’ve come up with a new recipe!” Ignis declared, unfolding some sort of temperature-controlled bag he took out of his pants pocket, and packing the sliced meat into it. “Yes… if I add it to the Leiden Potato and Lucian Tomato I bought from Longwythe..” He pushed his glasses further up his nose bridge and scribbled some notes onto his notebook after pocketing the bag.

“He’s always like this… shouting randomly about food,” Noct said with a reluctant smile, when you shot him a questioning look. He went forward first, towards the entrance of the tunnel while you and the others followed behind.

Cor was waiting at the entrance with a rugged smile on his scarred face. He motioned for everyone to follow him into a dark and spacious tunnel.

“You were watching us?” Noct said, with a slight annoyance in his tone.

“I need to see for myself if his Highness is ready for the long road ahead. Impressive work, kid,” Cor said as a side-note to Prompto.

“Wow… a compliment.. from the Immortal!” Prompto said, dropping his jaw and jumping up and down.

“Don’t let it go to your head. You’re only as good as your last battle,” Cor said with a faint smile flickering on his lips. “Your Majesty,” he addressed Noctis with a bow, and nodded at the rest of you. “Ignis, Gladio…… Y/N.” His sapphire eyes flickered at you for a brief second and he continued. “Take this key, it unlocks the doors to the other tombs.” He tossed an ancient-looking key that Noct caught and pocketed.

 _What's the deal with Cor? Did I do something wrong? Are women not allowed to be around the King?_ You tried inspecting his facial expressions, but you couldn't read him.

“You’re not coming with us?” Noct asked Cor. He almost sounded like an unsure child being abandoned by their parent.

“I’m satisfied with your progress. I need to keep an eye on the Niffs. There’s some activity going on in Duscae and I’m going to find out what they’re up to,” Cor said. He patted Noct on the shoulder and exited the tunnel, leaving the door and your mouths open.

\------

“Why don’t all of the past kings just hide their royal weapons in creepy tombs with scary tunnels and huge spiders? Sounds like a great idea.. Ahh!!” Prompto screamed, hiding behind you when a giant Arachne fell from the ceiling after entering a locked metal chamber.

“Use thunder, Y/N!!” Noct shouted at you. While wandering in the underground tunnel for hours, Noct taught you how to absorb elemental magic out of environmental objects. It was an extremely foreign feeling, feeling your body become imbued with magic. All ten of your fingers were emitting sparks, and your body felt anxious- charged and ready to discharge, signifying your successful absorption of lightning energy from a battery you found earlier. You held your hands, palms facing the spider and focused on releasing the electric damage to it. A large blast of thunder struck down onto the enemy, causing it to retract its legs and shrivel in pain. It all felt like a dream.. _Healing was one thing but.. now I can use fire, ice, lightning magic.. this stuff only happens in videogames, right?_

“Excellent. Lightning is its weakness,” Ignis said, breaking you out of your reverie and giving you a praising look for your successful attack. You noticed it was the first time he’s smiled at you since your drunken incident. _Whew.. ok, things aren’t weird between us. That’s good_. “We must focus on striking from the back, being in front of it is too dangerous,” he said to the others that were attacking the recovering spider with their weapons.

Everyone was sufficiently beat up when the Arachne finally admitted defeat. Noct looked around the chamber and noticed there was a small opening between boulders. He wedged himself into the next room, and the rest of you followed (with Gladio having a significantly difficult time, being the largest and tallest).

In this room there was a wall and a double door with intricate carvings, with a single keyhole on the right panel. Noct retrieved the key from his pocket and turned it in the keyhole, causing the sound of many latches to release. The heavy metal doors screeched open automatically, revealing a tomb similar to the one Cor first took the group to. 

Noct summoned the weapon from this ancestor, the Axe of the Conqueror in the same manner as the first royal arm. This time, the rest of you were prepared for the explosive visual ceremony. 

As everyone returned to the entrance (finding your way back was much more straightforward), Noct’s phone rang. 

“Yeah?” Noct answered. “I didn’t have reception down there. Uh-huh. Ok.” He stuffed his phone back into his pocket.

“What’s up?” Prompto asked, as everyone exited the tunnel, blinded by the light you haven’t seen in hours.

“Oh you know.. People to see, places to burn. Apparently the ‘activity’ in Duscae is the empire building a new base. Cor wants us to meet up with Monica to get more details,” Noct said.

You sat between Noct and Gladio in the back of the car, and Ignis took the wheel with Prompto in the shotgun seat. The drive to Prairie Outpost was fairly quiet- everyone was deep in thought. You were no longer the only one in the party that didn’t have a home to return to. Other than the short stint fighting the soldiers at the blockade, you had no experience dealing with the Empire. Just a week ago it wouldn’t have been in your wildest dreams that you would be storming and destroying a Niflheim base.


	10. Inspiration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taking on your first enemy base, providing a diversion for Noct and Cor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying to get back into a rhythm with this story! Thanks for reading, as always ^^ 
> 
> Also sorry again didn't edit thoroughly, just want to push through the things I have planned for y'all!

The grass was tinted fuchsia by the sunset when you reached the rendezvous point. There was someone standing underneath an outdoor parking stall full of decrepit cars, next to a brick building and some large metal cages. She was a serious and professional-looking lady with gray hair, wearing a black blouse over a white shirt.

“Your Highness.” She bowed to Noct. The rest of your group gathered near her. “Gladiolus, your sister is safe and waiting for you in Lestallum.” 

“How is my father?” Gladio asked. 

“I’m sorry.. He died defending the late King,” she said gravely. You looked at Gladio expecting his eyes to be tearful but he only had a blank expression on his face. “Ignis,” she continued addressing the rest of you. Prompto shook her hand and introduced himself. “You must be Miss Y/N,” she held her hand out to you. “Monica Elshett. Officer of the Crownsguard. Well, what’s left of it. Unfortunately most of the Crownsguard did not make it through the fall of Insomnia.” She looked somber yet she shook your hand firmly. “The Marshal tells me you are a gifted mage.”

“Oh no.. I’m definitely not-” you began awkwardly when Monica already shifted her attention back to Noct.

“The Marshal has appraised me of the plan. We’ve found a backdoor into the imperial base. I’ve marked the route. Head to the Norduscaen Blockade. You should be able to gain entry relatively easily. From there, Cor will be waiting to join you here, Your Highness, while the four of you will be creating a diversion for them over here, with me.” She marked two different locations and handed Noct a dusty and wrinkled map, and the group set off towards the base.

As you were walking you noticed Gladio clenching his jaw and looking off into the distance. “You ok there?” you asked him. He lowered his eyes for a moment, then nodded and put his hand on your shoulder.

“Hey Y/N! Come over here,” Noct shouted from up ahead. You ran over to him, where he was pointing at some thick icicles sprouting from the ground. “Time to load up on some magic.” 

You learned about harnessing the power of lightning magic in the tunnels; this was your first time trying with ice magic. You gripped the freezing icicle and focused on receiving its energy. Slowly, you felt your body become engulfed in a chill. You touched the ends of your frosted hair with shaking hands.

“Using magic is so uncomfortable.. I can’t imagine practicing enough to be good at it,” you said to Noct with chattering teeth.

“With proficiency, the side effects become unnoticeable. You must learn to control the energy, not let it control you,” Ignis interjected. “Of course, that is solely what I’ve read. I myself cannot harvest magic, Noct has to bottle it up for the rest of us to utilize with our weapons.” He slid off his blazer and gently wrapped it around you. 

“I’m fine..” you insisted. 

“It’s getting dark. I’d rather you not catch _another_ cold.” He gave you a smile that hinted at the last time he had to feed you cough medicine, which warmed your cheeks red.

The sun finally set, flooding your surroundings with darkness, and the boys turned on their clip-on flashlights. You pushed your arms through the sleeves of his blazer. Noct inspected the map with his light and directed the group towards a crevice in a large rock wall.

“Well. I guess this is it. I’m supposed to go through here and meet Cor,” Noct said.

“Give ‘em hell. We’ll do the same,” Gladio said. He shook Noct’s hand and they pulled each other in for a hug. Noct handed the map to Ignis, and started squeezing himself through the crevice as you and the rest exited and followed the other route marked on the map.

At the front entrance of the enemy base, there were rows and rows of robot soldiers standing guard underneath a giant spotlight. Monica was hiding behind a giant cargo container nearby and motioning for you all to join her.

“It seems like we’re _sliiiiightly_ outnumbered..” Prompto whispered, scratching his arm nervously.

“We just need to keep the enemy distracted until the Marshal and the King have destroyed the base from the inside,” Monica whispered back. “Take out the snipers first and then we’ll work on the infantry.”

“Hate to put you on the spot love, but you’re the only one who can warp to the snipers,” Gladio said, putting his hand on your shoulder. “We’ll try to keep their attention to the ground level if you could take them out. Don’t forget- keep moving. A still target is a dead one.” 

You gulped and summoned your dagger, holding on to it with a trembling hand. “Ummm.. this is like my second time _ever_ , warping..”

“Trust in yourself. You’re stronger than you think, and I won’t let anything happen to you.” Ignis placed his hand on yours and adjusted his utility belt with his other hand to reveal at least 8 bottles of potions attached to it. He gave you reassuring look with his emerald eyes and you felt unexpected calmness wash over you. He quickly withdrew his hand from yours and you noticed there was a few tiny icicles growing from his fingers that melted as soon as you broke touch.

“Whoa! Sorry about that..” you said to him. Suddenly, you thought of a plan. “I’ll blast the ground level with ice, and then warp from there.” Everyone nodded in agreement and you took a deep breath to focus on your magic. You took off the blazer and returned it to Ignis, rubbing your hands to prepare. The rest of your group summoned their weapons as you walked out of your hiding place, held out both of your palms to blast the soldiers with a blizzard. Strong winds were summoned in front of you as you felt the cold leave your body and transfer to the enemies, freezing them in place temporarily.

“Go now!” Monica shouted at you. They charged forward in a formation and you looked up at a few snipers that noticed your presence. Before they could press their trigger you threw your dagger as hard as you could and imagined yourself grabbing it at the end of its path. The world around you whirled into a smoothie of colors as you felt your feet land on a new texture- mesh metal. 

As your vision cleared you realized with horror that you were face-to-face with an imperial sniper, much closer than you had intended to warp. The combination of your extreme fear and the dizziness from warping caught the sniper off-guard as you threw up, obscuring their helmet with a litre of vomit as they raised their rifle. _Oh god.. I hope nobody saw that, lol. Wait.. what am I doing?_ This was a perfect opportunity as the enemy was distracted- you grabbed the soldier in a chokehold and then slit their throat using your dagger. 

_Oh god.. What have I done.. I can’t believe.. I … killed .. someone… I can’t believe that even worked, anyways. Playing Assassin’s Creed really paid off_. The enemy fell to the ground, throat gushing with metallic blood that dripped through the mesh flooring. _Is this a human? It seems part-robot too.._

Many sharp pierces into your skin all over your body interrupted your thoughts as you realized the other shooters were targeting you. The wounds from the gunshots started bleeding and burned as you winced in pain. Using that pain to fuel your anger, you warped to another enemy, kicked down their gun and stabbed them through an opening in their armor on their waist. 

Before they could retaliate, you warped yourself to another sniper and snuck in hits here and there. Then another sniper, and another.. adrenaline suppressing your nausea from warping. You repeatedly stabbed them until their bodies laid limp, shocking and scaring yourself with your sudden killer rampage and savage reflection from your dagger. In your moment of pause, a final hidden sniper tackled you from behind and you both wrestled on the edge of the scaffolding. 

You noticed that their weapon dualed as a taser and in a spark of brilliance, you grabbed it and focused on absorbing the electricity. You could see your eyes gleaming with power from the reflection of their helmets and you grabbed their neck, discharging the electricity into their body. The enemy convulsed but their iron grip on you did not let up and as they died, they fell over the railing, dragging you down. As you plummeted to the ground, you tried throwing your dagger to warp back onto the platform, but nothing happened. Your last thought was remembering Noct telling you that even experienced fighters have a difficult time warping with a ‘companion’, and you hit the ground, knocked out cold.

\-----------

Coernix Station

When you came to, you were lying down on a sofa, in what appeared to be a caravan. It was small, but nice and clean. At the very back there was a twin bed next to two bunk beds that were against the wall. In the middle, there were two flat sofas (one of which you were on) lined up, head-to-toe, across from the small kitchen.

“I call top bunk!” Noct said, rushing up the ladder.

“No fair!!” Prompto said, pouting and putting his camera onto his bottom bunk bed.

“I’ll take the sofa,” Ignis said. Gladio shrugged and sat down on the twin bed. 

“I swear I’ve had nothing but short-term memory loss since I’ve hung out with y’all. What on earth happened?” you asked. Prompto jumped up and ran to you when you spoke.

“You were awesome!! Zooming in and out, slashing everybody and taking people out,” Prompto said while making ridiculous swinging movements in the air around you. 

“We got scared when we saw you fall from the platform, it was really high up,” Gladio said, running his fingers through his damp hair. “Iggy ran to grab you and take you to safety _just in the nick of time_ \- the soldier exploded and took out a huge radius of enemies around it.”

“Exploded?” you wondered. “Now I remember, I absorbed electricity from their weapon and discharged it onto their body..”

“That was extremely dangerous. You shouldn’t experiment with magic until you have greater knowledge of it,” Ignis scolded you and then sighed. “I’m just glad that you are ok. Monica took care of you while we fought an Empire commander.” 

“It was this asshole fighting us in a huge robot,” Noct said, and then yawned. “Piece of cake. Would have been more fun seeing you kicking ass.”

“Nah, I’m glad less people saw my.. moments..” You said, thinking back to your vomiting and falling off the platform. “Anyways… anyone need to use the restroom? I’m gonna shower.”

Everyone laughed and shook their heads while you went into the bathroom stall next to the kitchen. The hot water melted away the soreness of your muscles and you breathed a sigh of relief. The gunshot wounds all over your body were gone- Monica must have healed them for you. Shame.. I didn’t even get to thank her.. 

Though the Empire seems like a mysterious, unbeatable and looming force of terror.. somehow you felt safe fighting alongside your new friends. Someday there will be peace again.. The crazy thing was that you were directly part of the movement.

You grabbed one of the folded towels and patted yourself dry, still deep in thought. Then, you suddenly realized with embarrassment that you didn’t bring a change of clothes with you into the bathroom. 

“Hey….uhh... is it possible someone can bring me my clean clothes?” you popped your head out of the bathroom and looked into the living area. Noct, Prompto, and Gladio were completely knocked out. Ignis turned around from inspecting the kitchen to fetch your clothes from the car. He came back and handed you your only other set of clothes, cheeks tinged with pink as he averted his glance from your body that was wrapped in a towel.

Your hands were shaking and your heart was beating very quickly when you accepted the clothes from him and shut the bathroom door.


	11. Stability

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spending the day with Ignis in Lestallum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So terrible.. when I started writing this, my first fanfic ever, I promised myself I wouldn't have such long hiatuses like I've seen with the fics I've read.. but now I can truly empathize with my fellow writers. Life is busy.. so I apologize for the wait! 
> 
> This one is longer than usual.. the next chapters coming up will be: "night life in lestallum" and then "first kiss" so please stay tuned! 
> 
> Thank you for your continued readership and everlasting patience!!

“I’ll drive today!” Noct announced.

“Whatever for? Does anyone wish to die?” Ignis replied.

“Tch. Rude,” Noct snatched the keys from the counter.

“I call shotgun!!” Prompto exclaimed and ran to the car. Before the caravan door closed after them, you could have sworn you heard Noct and Prompto giggling.

“What nonsense are those two up to?” Gladio smirked and shook his head, folding his blanket and packing up his stuff. You groaned and sat up on your sofa bed. You tossed and turned all of last night, trying to find a comfortable position for your sore arms and legs.

The situation was not any better in the middle seat of the car. _Hopefully we’ll get to Lestallum soon so I can stretch my legs_.. You’ve learned that Noct is a wild driver, but it still caught you off guard when he jerked the wheel suddenly, causing everyone in the back row to crash to the left. You rolled onto Ignis’ lap, and Gladio squished you both from the side.

“What the hell man?” Gladio said angrily. “Keep your eyes on the road!” Gladio extracted himself so that you and Ignis could revert to your own seats. 

You expected Ignis to scold Noct to high heaven, but his silence made you look at him. He seemed preoccupied with adjusting his belt, and when you looked around to see who else noticed the lack of scolding, you saw Prompto whispering in Noct’s ear and Noct smirking at you from the rear view mirror. 

Shrugging your shoulders at what they could possibly mean, you went back to looking up more info about Lestallum on your phone. After reading a few sentences, the sun disappeared, and you looked up to see that you were passing through a long tunnel. There were window arches throughout the tunnel, letting you see the rocky landscape from afar.

When the tunnel finally opened, you were treated to a vision of bright and colorful buildings. You noticed that the temperature was several degrees hotter here.

“Here we are,” Noct said, parking the car in a lot close to the city entrance.

“Haven’t enjoyed the city life in a while,” Gladio said with a smirk, checking out the ladies walking nearby. 

“Any chance of sleeping in a nice room tonight?” Prompto asked with bubbly eyes, to Ignis. 

“I’m sure we can secure suitable accommodations,” Ignis said.

“Iris said to meet her at The Leville,” Noct said, showing the text message he received on his phone.

“Oh, so she couldn’t be bothered to text her brother, huh?” Gladio said, rolling his eyes. When you gave him a confused look, he added to you, “she’s always had… kind of a thing for Noct. She thinks it’s not obvious.. But everyone knows.”

“Oh..” you said. _I wonder what Gladio’s sister looks like.. Is she also super buff_?

Your clothes were already sticking to your skin by the time you made it up the street. It has been a while since you’ve been around so many people. This city was vast, and had a lively and industrial feel. There were power lines connecting every shop and home, smoke coming out of many buildings, and many different types of people wandering about. You noticed that many women were walking around wearing sports bras and strange pants made of.. pink foil? _I’ve never heard of this fashion trend before_.

The Leville was a fancy-looking blue and brown antique hotel, at the inside corner of the city plaza. As soon as Gladio stepped through the threshold of the entrance, a cute young girl with short brown hair, a black hooded tank top with a black skirt and black boots tackled him.

“Gladdy!!!! I’m so glad you’re safe. And Noct…” Iris said, hugging her brother and giving a smile to Noctis. “Iggy, thanks for taking care of them, as always. WHOA! Who’s this?? Is she your _girlfriend_ Gladdy??” She whirled around and eyed you. You felt incredibly out-of-place wearing Prompto’s borrowed Chocobo shirt, while everyone looked spiffy in their black getups.

“Iris!” Gladio gave her a disapproving look. “This is Y/N, the newest member of the gang. Our newest Crownsguard.” You stared at Gladio with an open mouth, while everyone moved into the lobby.

“Oh wow!! I’m so sorry, that was incredibly disrespectful of me… Pleased to meet you and thank you for your services to the .. to the King,” Iris said looking distressed and bowing to you. 

Noct shifted uncomfortably as she said that, still not over the shock of losing his father. You were not over _your_ shock of being called a.. what?? Gladio looked over at you proudly, so you didn’t feel like you could discuss the topic at the moment. 

“So.. you guys are staying here, right?” Iris asked, holding her arms behind her back.

“That’s the plan..” Ignis said.

“We have a lot of catching up to do,” Gladio said. Everyone walked up the curved staircase and Iris unlocked a hotel room. 

An old man with a clean mustache, wearing a tan vest over a fresh-pressed dress shirt entered the room clutching his walking cane, followed by an energetic young brunette boy wearing a plaid shirt.

“Your Highness, I am overcome with relief to see you well,” the old man said with a low bow.

“Prince Noctis! Iris is safe with me!!” the young boy said.

“Excuse my grandson, he has yet to learn some manners..” the old man said, grabbing the child and pulling him aside.

“I like it, Jared. Nice to see you, Talcott,” Noct said to them both.

“We shan’t impose. This hotel room has already been arranged for your stay. Good night, Your Highness,” Jared said and left after another bow, escorting Talcott out.

The rest of you found places to sit in the small hotel room, when Noct began asking Iris about the fall of the Crown City. She described horrific scenes and the chaos she witnessed. The atmosphere was heavy when she finished detailing her escape, thanks to the help of the House Amicitia servants, Jared and his grandson.

There were a few moments of silence.

“So..” Iris began.

“What?” Noct asked.

“I heard… that Lady Lunafreya was in town,” Iris said, without looking at Noct.

“What??” Noct asked.

“Apparently she left right away.. But at least that means she’s okay,” Iris said.

Noct sighed and smiled. “Good to hear.. Thanks.”

“Well, get a good night’s rest!” Iris said, getting up suddenly and closing the door behind her.

There was no central cooling, so a few of you bunched by the nearest rotating fan to cool off. You looked around the room- the walls were painted a nice turquoise, decorated with curious framed pictures of random sceneries. There was an ancient looking TV from the 1950s, neglected in the corner.

Gladio pulled out a bed from underneath the sofa and lied on it. 

“I can take the sofa,” you said. It was always an awkward situation, living in a hotel room meant for 4. 

“I’m a gentleman. The bed always goes to the lady,” Gladio said.

“I’m not a lady. I’m just a nobody,” you said, sounding more pitiful than you intended. 

“I can’t take you seriously when you say that, wearing my Chocobo shirt,” Prompto said with a huge grin. He playfully punched your arm, “you’re our friend.”

“I’ll take the sofa with you Gladio,” Ignis said.

“Man, just take the bed. I’m sure you could both fit,” Gladio said. “Plus, if I have to hear you complain about your neck and bad sleep, I’d be so pissed.”

Your body sank into the old-looking bed. _Surprisingly comfortable_... You supposed that it was because your bed from last night was a caravan sofa. The rollover sleep deprivation everyone felt meant that showers were skipped and everyone slipped into bed as soon as possible. The lights were turned off, while someone’s snoring turned on. The fans did little to help you feel comfortable; the air was still too humid. 

You were awkwardly lying at the far edge of the bed. You could see from the corner of your eye and hear from the absence of regular breathing, that Ignis was still awake. His eyes were open, and he turned to look at you. 

“Are you alright?” he asked. 

“Yeah..” you said and looked away. You suddenly noticed that your heart was pounding. Maybe you’ve been on edge since the fight at the enemy base. “I just hope everything will be ok.”

“As long as we never give up hope. Please try to get some rest,” Ignis said. “Would you like me to fetch you some tea? Chamomile helps soothe insomnia.”

“I’m ok, thanks,” you said. “Get some sleep yourself.” You smiled and turned away from him. 

\-----

The streets were already bustling with noise around 6am. _Way too early_ , in your opinion. You heart was still beating quickly, leaving you to wonder what you dreamt about. You looked around and were surprised to see that all of the beds were empty- except for Noct’s. _Well, he’s not going to be up for a long time_.. you thought to yourself. He was sleeping face down, with one leg sticking out of the covers, outstretched beyond the bed.

On your side of the bed, there was a little purple velvet pouch with gold drawstrings on your nightstand, along with a note. 

_Welcome to the royal family, Y/N. Thank you for your loyalty and service to the King._  
\- Hester 

You opened up the pouch and saw a fat stack of gold coins. What the heck is this for? You’ve never held so much money in your hands before. You walked down the stairs to the foyer and saw that Iris was talking to Ignis. 

“Good morning, Y/N!!” Iris greeted you cheerfully. Ignis greeted you with a slight bow. She poured you a cup of coffee and handed it to you.

“Morning.. thanks. Where is everybody? It’s so early..” you said, mind fuzzy from just waking up. The smell of the coffee, incredibly fresh and with hints of foreign spice, was slowly clearing up the fog. You took a sip too quickly and burnt the tip of your tongue. “Agghhh..”

“Ah!! Sorry, I was going to tell you to wait for it to cool down.. But you went for it so quickly,” Iris said.

“Excuse me,” Ignis said and left down the hallway.

“No worries. It smelled so good haha,” you said with a smile. 

“Well Prompto rushed down here when he smelled the morning taco stand passing by the hotel. Then, he tried to wake Noctis, who didn’t wake up of course, but Gladio went out with him,” Iris said.

Ignis came back from the hallway with a plastic bag of ice. “Here, put some ice on your burn,” he said, handing you an ice with tongs.

“thhhanths..” you said, with the ice on your tongue.

Suddenly, Iris had a lively expression on her face. She opened her eyes wide and pursed her lips. She looked at you, and then looked at Ignis. “Ignis, why don’t you show her around? I’ll wait for Prince sleepyhead to get up.” She rushed up the stairs without another word.

“You’ve been here before?” you asked Ignis, once you two were alone.

“I have not,” he responded.

“Oh..” you said. 

“But we should get some breakfast nonetheless. You must be hungry,” Ignis said. 

“Yeah, definitely. What were you thinking?” you asked.

“Iris told me that we should explore the Partellum Market, it’s full of vendors selling all kinds of prepared foods, fresh produce, and handmade trinkets,” Ignis said.

“Sounds good to me,” you said.

Your skin immediately missed the air conditioning of the lobby as you both exited through the doorway. The sun was already up and the humidity of the air was almost too difficult to breathe in. There was a strange smell lingering in the air.. _Almost like gasoline? No .. that’s not right_.

Seeing you scrunch your nose, Ignis said, “The smell is from the power plant, EXINERIS. Lestallum generates its electricity from harnessing the heat energy from a nearby meteor shard. The founder of this city and the process was a brilliant scientist who inspired many generations of women to work at the power plant, with her findings and resourcefulness. In fact.. Women are the principle breadwinners in this city.” 

“Wow, that’s neat,” you said. _Were those the ladies in those strange uniforms_?

The city had a very distinct and unique look: a mixture of modern industrial plus tropical and weathered. Palm trees lined the sidewalk, with power lines weaving in and out of them. The brightly colored wall paints were peeling, and the small roads you walked on had many potholes and cracks. 

The marketplace was full of people lugging around a full basket of groceries, kids playing tag with each other, vendors pushing plates of samples onto customers. Bags, buckets, barrels of spices, flour, seeds, surrounded the stands. There were lines of green, red, yellow, orange peppers strung together, hanging from the tent edges. 

Ignis bought two plates of sliced meat and cheese, and a loaf of bread, which you both brought to a table and a set of chairs underneath an umbrella.

“Meat and cheese? I’ve only read about this fancy-folk stuff,” you teased. “You’re missing the wine though.”

“I was actually eyeing one already. It’s a terrific idea,” he said, and went over to another vendor.

“It’s 7AM…” you said, to no avail. He came back promptly with a thin bottle of red wine that was opened by the vendor, and two wine glasses. The wine was very fruity and extremely sweet, something you didn’t expect, since you never drank much wine before. You were also confused why the meat slices were uncooked when Ignis explained to you that prosciutto and salami were cured meats.

After the pleasant meal, you both continued strolling along more stands. You heard some jingling coming from your pocket and remembered the gold you received this morning.

“Hester left some gold..? I think it’s a mistake,” you said to Ignis.

“It’s not a mistake,” Ignis said, and sighed. “I apologize things are not as formal as they should be, given the .. circumstances. Noct was planning to ask you to join the Crownsguard, but I think Gladio rushed into declaring it already. Of course, the choice is yours.”

“Whoa, that wasn’t a joke or something?” you asked.

“Of course not. You have already helped us tremendously and have shown a level of skill and talent that exceed many fighters’ abilities,” he said.

“Oh .. wow.. Thanks.. I accept. You guys are my friends now, I’ll do anything to protect y’all.” You looked at the pouch full of coins. “But… this is more money than I’ve ever had in my whole life. I don’t need it.. I don’t even know what to do with it, now that the world is ending.”

Ignis laughed, his emerald eyes gleaming the bright sunlight. _Those eyes_.. You remember the first time you ever saw them, at the diner. “Well, it’s yours now. Do with it what you will. Just don’t give it to Noct, he’ll just gamble it all away at an arcade.”

He walked by a few stands, inspected and bought some ingredients to make dinner tonight. You smiled and a warm feeling spread through your heart. _Ignis.. So selfless and kind. Noct is lucky to have such a devoted friend._

“Good to see you again, sir!” a vendor hand-making gold and silver jewelry exclaimed happily at Ignis. “Is this your-” the vendor waved and Ignis cleared his throat and walked away to pet a nearby dog. The vendor shrugged and started showing you necklaces, rings, and bracelets. You weren’t really interested in jewelry, so you started walking away.

“Wait!! What about this one? Your.. friend was really liking this one,” the man said, showing you a thin necklace with a black skull charm. Surprisingly, you thought that the necklace would go very well with his outfit. While Ignis was always thinking of others, you doubted that many people gifted him things, so you decided to buy it for him as a surprise. The vendor gave you a nice pouch for it, and you put it in your other pocket.

You rushed over to join him, and forgot all about the necklace when you saw the adorable puff ball of a dog he was petting. 

After a while, he suggested taking a look at the meteorite. Amidst the plain brown landscape of cliffs and canyons, in the center there jutted out giant black shards of rocks that were all consumed by fire.

“The Meteor of the Six,” Ignis said. “According to legend, the Astral god Titan caught the asteroid as it fell and is still holding it in his slumber.” 

“Wow.. it’s massive.. The flames.. are so mesmerizing,” you said, staring at the landmark. When you realized that Ignis stopped talking, you turned to your left and caught him staring at you. He quickly averted his eyes.

“Is everything ok?” you asked. “It’s really too hot here..”

“Ah… yes. Let’s head back to the hotel,” he said, fumbling with something in his pocket, turning to head away from the meteorite.


	12. Infatuation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clubbing in Lestallum and The Sword in the Waterfall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!! I can't believe how quickly time passes.. I swear I only just released the last chapter a few days ago.. what?? It was weeks?? 
> 
> Anyways.. when I had the idea to write about reader x Iggy.. I wrote this chapter FIRST, before anything else in all of the fic, and I am so excited to finally release it!

You opened the door to the hotel room and found Iris folding some clothes on your bed. 

“Hey! Sorry for barging in here Miss Y/N, I wanted to surprise you,” Iris said with a guilty look. When you looked over to the clothes, she swung around and presented to you a black outfit. “Ta-da!!”

The one-piece was more extravagant than any clothes you’ve ever owned. The halter straps formed an X on the décolletage, flowing into the sweetheart neckline that connected to the two sleeves for the arms. The bust area was a built-in corset with lace backing, and the dress ended with three large lotus petals of cloth. The whole outfit was black, accented by painstakingly embroidered elegant patterns throughout, with metallic dark silver yarn.

“This is .. beautiful..” you said, as she handed it to you. The cloth was light yet thick, and felt wonderfully smooth to the touch. 

“Now that you’re part of the Crownsguard, you need to wear the Insomnia colors. Well, _color_. Black,” she said. “You’d be surprised how many vendors were selling ‘combat clothes’ for women that were.. Well.. they clearly don’t protect you from any attacks..”

You laughed and thought about all of the female video game characters in King’s Knight wearing the usual ‘standard armor’ (almost nothing).

“This one is still slightly more feminine and fairy-like though, I figured that would accentuate your beauty and with you being a mage and all..” she trailed off.

“I'm not-” you said, blushing and admiring the dress.

“Here are the boots!” She declared, holding up two thigh-high lace-up combat boots, with matching silver embroidery. "It's actually zip-up in the back. Ain't nobody got time for actually lacing up boots!"

“Wow.. thank you Iris. How much do I owe you?” you asked.

“Nothing! It’s the royal crown’s money anyways. This is part of the initiation package for Crownsguard members. I also bought you a few sets of casual clothes, since you seemed low on them,” she said. You laughed and thought about how you wear Prompto's borrowed Chocobo shirt a little too often. 

“Although..” she followed up sheepishly. “I was hoping you could do me a small favor..”

“Sure!” you said.

“Well.. there is this famous singer, Atlas, who’s performing at the Golden Palm club in downtown tonight. He’s trying to boost morale among the people during this .. time of crisis..” she paused, seeming like she was on the verge of tears. Then, she put on a brave face, “Anyways!! He’s my favorite singer EVER! I don’t think the guys would go, or let me go, but if you went with me.. They’d have to accompany us!”

“Of course,” you said and smiled. “Are you ok?” Her sadness was reminiscent of Gladio’s expression when Monica told everyone about what happened in the Crown City. It was difficult for you to imagine that people could still go clubbing on an average weekday night, like everything was normal. Life goes on.. Or at least everyone’s pretending things are ok, as a tragedy coping mechanism.

“Thank you thank you!!!” she said, not acknowledging her moment of sadness, digging through the pile of folded clothes on your bed, “I already bought an outfit for you anyways..” revealing a skin-tight, golden, short-sleeved, sequin mini-dress.

“Oh my lor- thank you, but .. I don’t think I’ll look good in this..” you said, hands shaking while she handed you the dress. 

“Of course you will!!” she said happily. “I’ll tell the guys to meet us at the club to eat dinner at 8pm!! We can get ready together in my room before that!!” She rushed out the door before you could change your mind.

\----

The Golden Palm was a modern-looking black building on the edge of town, already blasting a catchy hip-hop beat when the bouncers opened the door for you and Iris. When she gave you an approving nod in her tight ruby-red mini-dress, you mustered your confidence and walked in first with your nude stilettos (that you spent _an hour_ learning how to not twist your ankle in).

The multi-colored lights shining were dazzling, reflecting off everyone’s glittering outfits, creating a dream-like world of livelihood and happiness. This scene couldn’t be more different than the casual honky tonks you frequented in Hammerhead. As you walked further in, you noticed that everyone stopped talking and turned their heads to stare at you. _Uh oh.. Do I like ok?? Why is everyone staring_?? 

“Everyone thinks you’re hot!! Keep slayin!” Iris hissed from behind you, giving you a gentle nudge. You buried those negative thoughts and decided to take things in stride. _OK JUST BE CONFIDENT_!! You looked around at the people staring at you, most of them smiling, some of them giving you flirty eyes. _Wow_.. You had never felt so noticed, so special, so beautiful before. It was easy to feel overshadowed by Cindy, back home. As your confidence rose, your dress started to glow and sparkle more brilliantly. 

You heard some whistling in the distance and saw that it was Gladio. The boys were sitting at a reserved table near the performance stage and their jaws dropped when they saw you two. Gladio was looking like a rugged bad-boy in a white tee covered by a leather jacket with metal detailing; Noct was wearing a beanie and sunglasses, with a brown bomber jacket and heather-grey pants; Prompto looked very slick in a black dress shirt with dark jeans and a gold belt. 

There was a third man sitting with them that you didn’t recognize, wearing a white jean jacket and a grey tee, with black jeans. Him staring at you made your cheeks feel hot and your heart beat at a prestissimo tempo. You couldn’t help but notice that he was _super hot_.... dirty blonde hair covering his forehead with piercing green- _IGNIS_??

Before you could comprehend your shock, someone came up to your side and startled you. It must have been Atlas, wearing a gold chain necklace and a grey sweater, serenading you with the next verse of the song. He was very handsome and extremely good at dancing, stealing your attention away. 

“Ah, sorry, thanks, but I need to go meet my friends,” you said after he whispered in your ears, with embarrassment from inferring his intentions. Thinking quickly, you added, “my friend is single.. And she’s a huge fan.” You pointed at Iris and he smiled before he left you to talk to her. Iris looked panicked when she saw that you were directing her celebrity crush towards her and you gave her the thumbs up.

You walked towards Gladio and the gang, a little eager to get a closer look at the mysterious new Ignis, when he excused himself from the table. Noct followed him as you sat down in an empty chair to join everyone else.

“Is everything ok?” you asked Gladio and Prompto. 

“He’s probably.. just jealous,” Prompto slurred. His face was flushed red, darkening his freckles, and he took another swig of his beer. 

“Jealous? Of Atlas?” you asked.

“Yeah,” he responded. Gladio cleared his throat and tried to grab the beer away from Prompto.

“Oh, I didn’t realize Ignis likes Iris,” you said. 

“What? No, you dummy, he likes _you_ ,” he said, swatting Gladio’s hand away. Gladio let out an exaggerated sigh and face palmed himself.

“Ha, ha, very funny,” you said.

“Yes, really, _god_ , it’s so damn obvious,” Gladio said with annoyance, looking over at Iris flirting with Atlas. “Is Iris going to be ok?”

“What do you mean it’s obvious??” you shouted as Gladio headed towards the two.

“Ugh go away big bro, you’re not the only one who gets to have fun,” Iris said to Gladio and left backstage angrily with the star. Gladio stormed out of the club, noticeably saddening many admirers around him. You sat there awkwardly by yourself, in your fancy dress, not feeling the club vibe anymore. The only other person left, Prompto, was passed out onto the table.

 _Ha! He likes me? That’s hilarious. Ignis? The perfect man.. who probably loves Noct_. You tried to put these thoughts to rest as you lugged Prompto, your heels in hand, with him over your shoulder, back to the hotel. 

However.. you couldn’t get the image of Ignis out of your mind. _Damn.. he’s so hot.. How come I never noticed? No.. no, it can’t be.. I’m not shallow. Stop being dumb, Y/N_!! You felt stupid for feeling giddy. _Maybe the guys are pulling a fast one on me. Better not fall for it_.

—-----------------------

When you awoke the next morning, everyone was gone again. This time, even Noct. You didn’t remember anyone else sleeping in the room last night, other than the very-inebriated Prompto you tucked in.

In the lobby, the small child Talcott, was in the midst of describing a fantastical legend of a legendary sword hidden in an ice cave called the Greyshire Glacial Grotto.

All eyes fell onto you when you made your way down the staircase. It was your first time wearing the black dress uniform Iris (who was not present at the moment) bought for you. It fit you perfectly.

Gladio ran his fingers through his hair and gave you a smirk. “My sis was always good with clothes.” You smiled back at him, feeling slightly pink in the cheeks.

Noct gave you a wave, and then continued asking Talcott and his grandfather more details about what they described as another royal tomb.

Prompto gave you two thumbs up, hiding what must be a terrible hangover, behind his sunglasses. 

Ignis, you noticed, reverted back to his signature hairstyle- the cockatiel bangs and his thin-rimmed glasses. He gave you the smallest smile you’ve ever seen, and looked away.

After having a sizable breakfast, the five of you set out to explore the tomb. The weather was beautiful- the sun shined brightly and the towering, multi-story high waterfall sprayed refreshing droplets into the air.

“Would’ve been a great place for a picnic,” Gladio said, hands on his hips, admiring the green vegetation surrounding the basin and river. 

“We just ate..” Noct said. You all walked closer to the waterfall, now faces and bodies soaked by the proximity. He held a hand above his head and walked right into the waterfall. 

Shocked, you tried to reach for Noct before he hit was surely was going to be hard wall, when your arm passed through the waterfall touching thin air. You and the rest of the group ran after him.

“The legend he told me was true. But does this waterfall really keep out unwanted visitors?” Noct asked.

“I don’t know, but we should probably double back and grab our coats..” Prompto said.

“A little chill never hurt anyone,” Gladio said. You stared around at the dark cave the waterfall was hiding. The surfaces of the walls were slick from the moisture and the low temperature. 

The thin sleeves and your above-knee dress of your uniform were just barely enough to keep you from frostbite. Your strong desire to create warmth manifested itself in the form of a fireball in your right hand. 

“Whoa! Helpful,” Prompto said and huddled to your side.

“What? When did you absorb fire energy?” Noct asked you.

“I .. I guess I didn’t,” you said.

Ignis looked at you, deep in thought, without saying anything.

There was some gurgling sounds that alarmed you, and you threw the fireball at three emerging mounds from the ground. They revealed themselves to be slimy monsters ready to tackle the group.

“Flan,” Ignis said, brandishing his throwing knives. You summoned your sword and swung it at the enemies, trying to remember the strokes and slashes that Gladio taught you. You got a stab in before one of the blobs got ahold of your fighting hand and proceeded to suck you into its gooey body.

You struggled to free your hand, when the enemy enveloped you, almost suffocating you with their mass. You summoned your dagger with your left hand and tossed it clumsily to the wall near you. SLOSH. You warped out of its grasp.

Angrily, you summoned more fire (from where?) and directed the flames at that gross Flan, searing it to a puddle of lifelessness.

“Whew! I had hoped we wouldn’t see any monsters here.. it’s so cold,” Prompto said, wiping his sweat after shooting a last bullet into his dying enemy.

“Oh yeah, cuz monsters hate the cold,” Noct said.

“Ok .. sarcasm noted,” Prompto said as he slid along the narrow and icy path the group was now traversing, hugging the wall. 

As soon as you and Ignis began crossing the path, the ground beneath you started cracking.

“Hurry! Move faster!!” Ignis said to the three ahead of you two. They hauled ass and made it to a wider platform before the ground gave out underneath you and Ignis. You slipped and hit your elbow on hard and slippery ground, and the two of you tumbled down a slope. 

You slid all the way down the ice like a water slide, until your butt crashed onto the hard floor of a large chamber with only a single entrance.

“Ugh....” you massaged your elbow and legs. There were a few bloody scrapes on the skin that wasn’t covered by clothing, that you healed quickly with your magic. 

“Are you alright??” Ignis asked with great concern.

“I’m fine.. Are you ok?” you said, looking at him. He didn't sustain any injuries and was already standing, offering you a hand. You blushed and muttered thanks when you grabbed his very-warm and sturdy grip and he pulled you up. 

“Noct!!! Gladio!!! Prompto???” Ignis yelled to the space above. A few pebbles tumbled down the way you both fell, but no response. “Of course, no cell reception here either. I suppose we’ll just have to find our way out.” 

In an instant, a shadowy figure materialized, and swung its long and thin sword at you. You dodged the attack from what looked like a swordsman daemon. You focused your energy at creating a large blast of fire and threw it at its chest, causing it to fall backwards and steam to rise from the surrounding floor. 

“Don’t use fire. A Ronin is a strong enemy, however fortunately they are weak to lightning and light magic, as well as swords and daggers,” Ignis said, brushing his stray hairs away from his face as the ceiling began dripping water onto his head.

“Light magic? What does that mean?” you asked, as you summoned your dagger and warped to a safer distance from the enemy.

“Ah forgive me, not much is understood about light magic, but royal weapons have the power to harness it. The Ring of Lucii, used by the late King, is also capable of dealing light damage,” he explained, while he struck the Ronin twice, and dodged the retaliation slice.

As soon as you stopped harnessing fire magic and tried switching to lightning, you felt the freezing chill of the chamber overwhelm you. A seismic rumble from above dislodged many large icicles from the ceiling, luckily missing you but a large pillar skimmed Ignis’ face and knocked his glasses off. 

You shot a bolt of lightning at the daemon to divert its attention to you, but it kept its eyes locked onto Ignis. The enemy’s curved blade pierced into Ignis’ stomach, leaving a trail of black smoke, and then Ignis crumpled to the ground.

“No!!!” you screamed. You faced your right palm to the Ronin and the most powerful blast of electricity erupted from your hand and hit it square in the chest. The monster fell to the ground defeated, and exploded into nothingness.

You ran towards Ignis and dropped to your knees by his side.

“You did it.. I forgot.. about .. Instant… Death..” he said weakly. His stomach was gushing out blood and you put your hands over them. He looked up at you. “Y/N… Your eyes.. are bleeding..”

“Instant Death?? What the hell is that??” you asked. Tears were rolling down your cheeks before you noticed they were stained with blood. The overuse of mana drained your body into exhaustion. No healing glow was emitted from your hands, and Ignis slowly lost consciousness. 

Frustrated at your inability to heal him, you ripped off a piece of your pants to soak up his blood. Your hot tears fell faster, and onto his wounds. Instantly, the tears disappeared into his wound and glimmered like falling stars, mending his stomach gash.

You looked at him, sweating with anticipation, hoping that _whatever that was_ , it would be strong enough to heal him. His hair was now flat from the mist in the cave- his bangs were damp and plastered across his forehead. 

He was handsome, to be sure.. but you never appreciated how beautiful he was, inside and out. You heart actually hurt at the thought of losing him.. 

…. … ?? 

His green eyes opened a sliver, and you gasped in relief. He made an effort to get up, and you reached your arms around him to support him to a seated position.

“You saved me..” he said, breathing heavily. His hands were around your waist and his dilated eyes were intensely locked onto yours. 

“I’m so glad you’re ok.. I was so scared..” you began. 

He gently reached a hand to caress your left cheek and wiped away your bloodied tears. You brought your shaking hand to meet his, and then he leaned in and kissed you.

Your eyelids fluttered closed as his soft and gentle lips touched yours. Shock flowed through your body and goosebumps raised from your skin. He abruptly broke away from the kiss.

“I’m sorry.. I-“ he started, and without thinking, you placed both of your hands on his cheeks hungrily and pulled him back into a kiss. 

Invigorated by your response, he gasped for a breath. His eyes were glowing, he opened his mouth slightly to kiss you more passionately. You’ve never experienced a kiss like this before. The cliche “fireworks” were real, and you saw them exploding you into dizziness. _You longed for more.. You felt something awaken in you.._

“Man, this is what you guys were doing while we were fighting the boss??” a husky voice said.

You both unlocked your lips and separated to stand up. The boys managed to find the chamber you both fell into. Gladio was standing in front of you with one eyebrow raised and his arms crossed. Prompto ran from behind flabbergasted, with huge eyes and his mouth hanging open. 

“For your information, we also fought a boss here,” Ignis said.

“Riiiiiiiight.. the daemon of _desire_ ,” Noct said, walking in with a look of amusement on his face. Gladio roared with laughter.

“Y/N defeated the Ronin that ambushed us, and saved me when I was bleeding to death,” Iggy said, reaching to retrieve his glasses from the ground, putting his glasses back on, and then crossing his arms. His face was crimson, from a mixture of excitement and embarrassment.

“Iggy’s all grown up now. Never thought I’d see his first kiss,” Noctis said, dramatically bringing his hand to his forehead.

“Oh, shut it!” Ignis said. “Now are we getting that royal weapon or what?”


	13. Frustration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meeting Ardyn again, traveling towards the Archaean

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's tough to follow writing after one of my favorite chapters (kissing Ignis).. but I have busted it out! Hope you all enjoy, and thank you again for your support, love, and readership!!
> 
> Next in the queue: Fight with the Titan, and then meeting Ravus

The whole time, from retrieving the royal weapon, to exiting the cave, to returning to the Leville, Prompto was glancing at you. You refused to look him in the eye. Everyone else was busy fighting more enemies, harvesting raw materials lying around, and overall just being exhausted. 

“ _So_ …. are you guys dating now?” Prompto finally burst out loud, sliding his face into view on your right. He blinked his bright blue eyes and scrunched his freckled face playfully. 

Noct, Ignis, and Gladio were upstairs talking to Iris, while you and Prompto were sunken into the sofas in the foyer. 

You let out a huge sigh. “I don’t know. I just met you guys.. Like this week.. my whole life is a wreck.” _God.. has it really only been 7 days_?

“Everyone’s life is crazy right now. But you like him don’t you?” He asked.

“I _do_ …” you said. 

“We could all die at any moment! You just gotta.. Take life by the horns.. While you still can.. And he’s been head over heels about you since he first saw you in Hammerhead!” Prompto said all in one breath. “I’ve never seen a man so changed, and I’ve known the Iggster since way back when.”

“What? He liked me even then?” you asked.

“He’d never admit it. Hell, I’m surprised _anything_ even happened between you two. You seemed pretty disinterested, or oblivious. I seriously thought he’d die a virgin,” Prompto said.

“Ummm,” you started saying.

“Oh wow sorry, I mean he still is.. I’m not implying you’re gonna… ok I’ll just go away now. BYE!” He said and then left awkwardly to go use the restroom.

You sighed and walked upstairs. Iris came out of the bedroom door and told you to get a nap in. Noct was already fast asleep ( _how does he do it_?), and Gladio was in the shower. You were nervous.. You were definitely too exhausted and awkward to deal with talking to Ignis, but thankfully he was not in the room. You lied down on your bed without taking off your clothes, put your phone on the nightstand to your left, and closed your eyes.

“I apologize.. Do you mind if I check your eyes?” a gentle voice woke you after a few minutes of rest. You lifted your heavy lids and saw that the room was dark now, and Ignis was kneeling next to your bedside.

 _He’s …. so beautiful._. 

“I don’t mind.. But what for?” you asked sleepily. 

“They were bleeding earlier today.. I want to make sure you didn’t sustain any lasting damage to your blood vessels,” Ignis said quietly. Holding your right jaw with his left hand, he brought a warm and damp cloth with his right, and gently wiped your around eyes. 

_Is it the eyes? No.. it’s gotta be the hair.. I love the way it looks when his dirty blonde hair falls down his forehead and frames his face.._

Then he brought a small flashlight and inspected your eyes. 

“It seems like everything is in order,” he concluded.

“Are you ok?” you whispered. “You were the one who got stabbed today.”

“Thanks to your powerful healing, I’ve never felt better. I swear even my back pain has magically disappeared.” He said and smiled. _Did he put me under a spell? Drug me somehow? Why am I feeling so infatuated all of a sudden_? “If you’re the one always healing everyone, who will heal you?”

You gulped. You’re not ready for a serious talk. 

“Please rest, Y/N. I made some chamomile tea in case you have trouble falling asleep. Here is something to help your eyes,” he said, laying a heat pad wrapped in silk over your closed lids.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” you asked. You knew what the answer was, but you wanted to see how he would handle it.

“It’s my duty to ensure the safety and health of my comrades,” he replied. 

_Ha.. what a smooth answer_.. You thought, and slowly drifted into the dream world.

\-------

“What do you want for lunch?”

“Umm.. how about the smoothie place?”

“Sure babe,”

“Do you two want some sandwiches before you leave?”

“Oh wow! Thanks Taka, I love these! Do you want some?” you said, chomping down on one. 

“Why are you changing the plans?”

“What?”

“You just said we were going to the smoothie place”

“Oh, sorry.. I thought we’d save some money and eat these since your dad made them already”

“So you just made a decision without me?”

“Sorry.. We can still go!”

“Forget it. I just won’t eat”

“Please.. Let’s just go”

“No. I’ll just _starve_ then, since you’re eating without me”

“I said sorry.. Why are you being like this?”

\---------

You woke up with your shirt stuck to your back, soaked in sweat. It’s been a while since you thought of him.. Your ex… It's been a while since you've felt so uncomfortable emotionally. You did everything for him... even with his temper... You changed out of your sleeping shirt and into your black uniform in the restroom, and walked downstairs to take a sip of water from the water fountain.

All of the street lamps outside were on already, and many customers were crowded in the lobby checking in to the hotel. Noct came downstairs first and before you could greet him, he clutched his hand to his forehead and began to have what looked like a seizure.

“Noct!! Are you ok???” You asked.

His eyes rolled to the back of his head and you gently supported him to the nearest sofa. “Ignis!! Gladio!! Prompto??” you shouted.

The upstairs door flew open and Ignis almost toppled down the stairs to respond to your exclamation. “What happened?”

“S-something happened to him..” you said, pointing to the unresponsive Noct. Gladio, Iris, Talcott, and Jared all followed to join you. Ignis held Noct’s shoulders and shook him. After a few seconds, Noct finally groaned and blinked. 

“Visions.. Of a giant... rocks burning in the ground..” he said breathlessly.

“You saw.. The Disc of Cauthess?” Ignis asked.

“Why? Who was that?” Noct asked angrily. “My head..”

“That’s impossible..” Ignis said after a moment’s pause. “It couldn’t be..”

“Spill it, Specs,” Gladio said.

“Could he have seen the Titan?” Ignis pondered. “The Astrals.. Are simply figures of legend.. No living soul has ever seen one.”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out. Something important is happening, for Noct to have these visions. We gotta go check it out,” Gladio said.

The five of you ran out of the Leville and towards the outlook you and Ignis were at yesterday. The flaming rocks looked different without the glow of the sun reflecting off of them. A strange person that was standing at the coin operated binocular turned to face your group.

“What a coincidence,” the red-haired man you recognized from Galdin Quay said. He narrowed his eyes and smiled when he saw you.

“I’m not so sure it is,” Gladio said, crossing his arms.

“Aren’t nursery rhymes curious things?” The strange man said waving his right hand around, though phrased as a question, clearly meaning for it to befuddle everyone. 

Nobody responded. He had your attentions.

“From the deep, the Archaean calls. Yet on deaf ears, the gods’ tongue falls. The King, made to kneel in pain, he crawls.”

“So how do we keep him on his feet?” Prompto asked, surprising you. You never had much experience solving riddles, and had no idea what the man was saying.

“You need only heed his call. Visit the Archaean,” he said, staring off to the horizon.

The man was wearing the same clothes as the last time you saw him. _Does he ever wash his clothes? They look so dirty._ You never imagined you’d meet someone whose manner of speaking was more .. interesting than Ignis. In fact.. this man didn’t even sound like he was from this century.

He swung around suddenly. “I can take you.”

The way his eyes bore into your soul made your arm hair stand on end. You had a bad feeling about this, and not only because he looked kind of creepy.

Gladio huddled the group together.

“So what do we do?” He said.

“I say we go..” Prompto started.

“And just be careful,” Noct finished.

“Sounds like a plan,” Ignis agreed. The four of them looked at you. _It’s probably nothing..the four of you couldn’t handle_ you thought. You shrugged your shoulders and then nodded your head. 

“Splendid. My car is this way. It’s not quite as fancy as yours, but it has a certain charm to it,” the man said. “Oh, and by the way.. The name’s Ardyn.” 

Gladio and Prompto went in Ardyn’s car, while you went with Ignis and Noct in the Regalia. You sat in the back by yourself, glad to have some room to relax. Ignis gave you a glance when he looked back to reverse the car and you felt your cheeks burning red. He styled his hair up in the usual pompadour ( _guess he didn’t take a nap_ ) and wore his glasses, but he was more handsome than you ever remembered.

His lips.. The memory was freshly restored, and you buried your face in your left palm, embarrassed and leaning against the car.

“So.. the guy’s a little weird,” Noct said, breaking the silence and bringing back the mood to seriousness. Ardyn’s dark red vintage convertible was a few car lengths ahead of the Regalia. I wonder what Gladio and Prompto are talking about with him..

“I suppose.. However, there is currently a blockade preventing us from reaching the Disc. If he has access, we must utilize it, despite our misgivings,” Ignis said.

“He must have been following us.. There’s no way it’s coincidence we met him in Galdin Quay and then here,” you said.

“To what end?” Ignis asked. “And what is his origin?”

“I can’t imagine him being from the city,” Noct concluded. “Oh well, whatever. Who cares what this creepy old dude wants.. We’ll just get to the Disc and be done with him.”

Unexpectedly, Ardyn took a turn into another Coernix Station after a few hours of driving. “What say we take a little break?” 

Ignis stopped the car on the shoulder of the road. It was a small station beside a giant Pride Rock shaped cliff formation, with just two caravans for overnight stays. 

“What say we continue on to Cauthess?” Gladio said. 

“The Archaean isn’t going anywhere. Plus, it’s way past your bedtimes already,” Ardyn replied condescendingly. The stars were already shining bright, sprinkled across the black sky. “I shall foot the bill, so let us stay at the caravan over yonder.”

“We can’t get anywhere without him..” Noct said. Ignis sighed, and pulled the car into the parking area.

 _Well.. first I leave my hometown and go camping with complete strangers, now I’m staying in caravans with a potential serial killer psycho looking old dude_. 

A few people were having a beer next to a radio, listening to Lunafreya talking. The five of you sat down on some chairs around a campfire in front of the caravan.

“I haven’t seen Luna since I was a kid..” Noct said. “But.. we’d always pass this.. notebook to each other, writing and drawing things. I’d hear other people talk about how amazing she was, traveling far and healing people all over the land. People came in hundreds to witness the golden glow that healed almost all ailments.” He took a branch and started poking at the fire. “She’d never talk about it to me. She would always ask how I was.. Like she wasn’t busy doing all this great stuff..”

“Noct…” Ignis said.

“All I’ve done is let my father down.. Let my city fall..” Noct said, throwing the stick into the fire.

“That’s not true. You have always had a great burden on your shoulders, and carrying that is an impossible task,” Ignis said.

“Well when you and Luna finally get married, maybe some of her work ethic will rub off on ya,” Prompto said, grinning. Noct shot him a death glare and Prompto squawked and moved away.

“Don’t think being married will give you an excuse not to work out,” Gladio said. Noct crossed his arms. “The least you could do is look like you deserve Lady Lunafreya.”

“That’s rude,” Noct said, scoffing and walking away into the convenience store. Ignis broke a smile, while Gladio and Prompto high-fived each other and laughed.

“Don’t be so hard on him,” Ignis said, crossing his legs.

“I saw you smile,” Gladio said. “You know he’s the laziest person any of us has ever met.”

“That may be true.. But he’s still our King,” Ignis said, and then got up to leave. “I’m going to prepare some dinner.”

“Is anyone even tired? Our sleep schedule is soooo messed up,” Prompto said, stretching his arms.

“Nope…” you said, remembering that most of them took a nap at the Leville earlier. 

“We should taking up some hunting requests. I’m sure some extra gil can’t hurt, and you should focus on getting stronger,” Gladio said to you, crushing his can of beer that he drank. He sounded a bit stiff, not his usual suave and confident self.

“Sounds great,” you said, eager to learn more about combat and train. The three of you walked to the station bulletin board to browse some requests for help.

“Please help, my cat was taken by some monsters,” Prompto read off one of the slips. “Awww poor kitty! We have to do this one!!”

“I hate cats,” Gladio said.

“Pleeeeeeeeeaseeeeeeeaasseeeeeee!!” Prompto pleaded.

“Dammit, fine, if it’ll make you shut up,” Gladio said, ripping off the slip from the board.

The requester was a cook, so you all walked into the cafe and asked around for the person in need. The middle-aged lady who was the “grey, striped cat” owner described the monsters as large horned beasts with a single large horn, “a blind demon hyena bull, if you will”.

“Umm… ok ma’am. We’ll get your cat back,” Prompto said, as the three of you walked out of the cafe and crossed the lonely highway, away from the light of the parking lot.

“She said it was a little west of here..” you said. “But I have no idea what kind of monster we’re dealing with, based on her description.” 

It was almost impossible to see after a few minutes of walking away from the station, and everyone turned on their small body flashlights. The ground was uneven, and you almost tripped a couple of times. 

You saw a gleam of flashlight that was reflected off a smooth surface in the distance. You put your arm in front of Gladio and Prompto and your left finger to your mouth to signal to shush them.

As you suspected, it was a large animal that was stomping around and patrolling around the area. 

“Does that look like a demon hyena bull?” Prompto whispered, turning off his flashlight as the three of you crouched down near the dirt, to survey the situation.

“I don’t care what it is. Looks like a good chunk of meat for dinner later,” Gladio said, rolling up his sleeves. “Let’s get it!” he said and started running to attack it.

You looked at Prompto, and saw that he already summoned his guns. You summoned your dagger and nodded at him, and then warped to where Gladio was. Then, you traded out your dagger for your sword and started swinging at the giant enemy.

“Did you forget everything? Why are you swinging your sword like a madman?” Gladio said.

“Sorry.. It’s been a while,” you said, trying to remember to land the hits more systematically. You gripped the handle with both hands and brought the sword from left to right, slicing the animal’s leathery thigh, but no blood was coming out. 

Suddenly, the enemy lifted its leg and kicked you, causing you immense chest pain and sending you backwards, and crashing into the ground.

“What the hell are you doing? You have to move around, remember? Dodge attacks??” Gladio yelled at you. 

“I’m trying my best already! Why are you being so hard on me?” you shouted back, healing your own cuts you got from falling into small gravel with your hands.

“If you don’t get better soon you’re not gonna survive. We might not always be here to help,” Gladio said.

“What does that mean?” you said looking at him angrily. 

“He means.. We’ll always be together as a group.. But we can’t be sure if things outside our control cause us to be separated..” Prompto said trying to defuse the tension while aiming for the enemy’s eye with his right gun.

_Screw swords and shit. I’m not cut out for that stuff. Why even bother when I can just use magic?_

You conjured up a huge torrent of flames as angry and heated as you were, and sent it barreling towards the large demon, causing it to yelp in pain as you smelled its rotten flesh cooking. The monster admitted defeat and ran away.

“There goes your meat..” Prompto said, smiling and looking at Gladio. His smile quickly faded, and he slouched over when neither you nor Gladio laughed.

A distant meowing in the darkness caught your attention. There was an oak tree a bit aways that you ran towards. A swinging tail on a branch helped you identify the rest of its body as you tried coaxing it down to your open arms.

“Come here kitty!!” you begged. The grey striped cat instantly jumped onto you, and before you could sigh in relief it started to scratch the shit out of you. “What the f***?!!”

Prompto rushed towards you and threw a large flour sack over the cat and bagged it up. 

“Wow, where did you get that?” you asked Prompto. 

“Oh! It was in front of the hotel, some vendor probably left it there and I was going to throw it away but I forgot about it and left it in my bag,” Prompto said.

“What a good stroke of luck then.. Being a scratching post was the worst thing ever,” you said and Prompto laughed. “I hope there’s only ONE lost grey, striped cat… Let’s hurry up and give this crazy cat back to lady..”


	14. Confusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First fight with THE TITAN!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Holidays, all! Hope your year has been a good one, and that next year will be even better! Sorry it's been such a slow process getting this out.. hope that y'all can enjoy nonetheless. I will be trying to push out chapters at a faster rate with more time off during December, hopefully. 
> 
> Thanks for all of your patience!

When the three of you headed back to the camp with Prompto carrying the sack with the cat violently thrashing about, the convenience store and cafe were already closed. Nobody else was around except for Noct, Ignis, and Ardyn sitting by the campfire, and the cat owner lurking about near your caravan.

“Dear, oh dear, what happened to you?” Ardyn asked you with a smirk that seemed to ignite the sting of the cat scratches on your face. You rolled your eyes and ignored him, while Gladio sat down to talk to Noct, and Prompto wearily gave the bag of cat to the lady.

Ignis took a glowing blue bottle from his pocket and dabbed some of it with a handkerchief, then he stood up to walk towards you as you entered the caravan. The layout of this caravan was very similar to the previous one you all stayed in before, with the exception of a second set of bunk beds. 

You sighed and extracted your phone and wallet from your pockets, onto a side table and sat onto the bottom bunk in the back of the caravan. The caravan door creaked open as Ignis asked, “May I come in?”

“Of course,” you said, head hung low. 

“Please, let me help,” Ignis said, bringing the glowing handkerchief to your cheeks and gently pressing on them. You shivered and felt the wounds stop burning as the liquid potion did its job, the glow reflecting in Ignis’ concentrated eyes. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

“No..” you said.

“Then why the long face?” he asked gently. 

“I just don’t know if I’ll ever be good enough,” you said. “Everyone has their potential, but everyone also has their limits.” 

“Whatever brought about these thoughts?” he asked. “You do remember that you were ‘just a normal girl’ a week ago?” He smiled and you couldn’t help but feel some warmth emanating from his handsome face. “Was it Gladio?”

You looked up surprised, giving away the reason immediately. “How did you know?”

“Well, I know that Prompto would never give you bother,” he said, finally coaxing a smile out of you. “Gladio puts on a strong and professional face, you know. But he’s always been a ladies man. I can’t imagine that some part of him doesn’t like you. I can’t blame him, you are a most alluring and talented young lady,” Ignis said.

“Gladio.. He’s only ever given me crap since day one,” you said.

“Well, take out of it what you will, those are my theories,” Ignis said. “I’m just glad that for once, a lady may have their sights set on someone other than Gladio.”

You locked eyes with him, but it was too intense of a stare, and you looked back down, blushing. He held offered his hand next to you, and you touched it with marvel. The hands that can do so much.. He gently closed his fingers around yours. There was a tenderness that you were enthralled by, something that told you that you would be safe as long as these hands held you.

A part of you wanted this to stop. Life was always too complicated with love.. He’s just a stranger.. But then you remembered what Prompto said.. That you could die at any moment.. _Throw caution to the wind and enjoy what you can_.

You pulled his hand, and by extension his arm, closer to you. _Take the leap.. Don’t be afraid_.. His other hand reached around to touch your lower back, bringing you closer to him as well. Your lips were almost touching, both breathing heavily, waiting for another explosive moment. 

“Whoa!!! If you need to get a room, just say so man. Don’t go around shocking people like that,” Noct said, bursting into the caravan and promptly exiting it. 

You burst out loud laughing at Noct’s remark, as Ignis stood up and hit his head on the ceiling in shock. “Are you ok?” 

“Yes, I’m fine..” he said, massaging his head with a grimace. “Please sleep, Y/N. I’ll go and take care of some things before retiring for the night,” he said, exiting the caravan.

You were too tired to shower, so you changed into your pajamas (fleece teddy bear patterned ones, courtesy of Iris) and said _screw it if I’m still dirty_.. And drifted to sleep despite the chattering outside.

\--------------

_“How dare you treat her as you have done, you filth!” Thunder echoed across the land, as a silver haired man with a metal arm punched Ignis._

__

__

“Stop!! I love him!” you screamed, running to Ignis who was lying on wet mud as the rain soaked you all. The look of disgust on the man’s face softened from what you said. A man with blue and purple eyes.

\--------------

The Regalia slowed to a stop after the smooth paved road ended and it drove on uneven terrain, over a few large rocks. “Hello!! It’s _me_! Be so kind to open up,” Ardyn shouted at a menacing industrial-looking wall with black steel gates.

“Wow.. that _worked??_ ” Prompto asked incredulously. 

“Yeah.. that’s definitely weird and suspicious,” you said. Not anything more weird than your dream last night though.. _Who was that man anyways? And why was he so mad at Ignis_?

“And with that, I bid you farewell,” Ardyn said unexpectedly, and then he drove off back in the direction you all came from. 

“Well.. hope we never meet that one again,” Ignis concluded. You couldn’t help but agree. Ardyn definitely gave you the creeps just being around him.

Noct resumed driving past the gate until the winding road ended at some ruins. You felt some heat coming in waves as you got out of the car. _I wonder how close we are to those flames that I saw from the overlook. I have no idea what to even expect.. A Titan? Are those even real_?

Noct broke into a run as he clenched his head and groaned. The ruins opened into a path that had columns.. or pillars, that strangely resembled an animal’s ribcage. At the end of the path, there was surprisingly another royal tomb where Noct absorbed the Blade of the Mystic.

As soon as the blue shining light from the royal weapon faded, there was an enormous roar that erupted and the ground below the five of you began to crack. 

“Quickly! We must get away from the edge!” Ignis shouted. But it was too late- Prompto, Gladio, and Noct all fell from the edge as the ground gave in beneath them. “Noct!!”

The three of them tumbled down a steep hill and then crashed into a stop. You shouted to ask them if they were ok, but your voice was muffled by an even greater rumble. The meteorite rose out of the ground, and an even larger being- what looked like a giant, grey-skinned man with red eyes and silver tattoo, emerged from underneath it. 

You stood frozen in place as you took in the sight, despite the temperature rising to burning levels. “Th… that… that’s the _Titan_??” you finally asked Ignis next to you.

“Indeed, it would seem so,” Ignis said. There were black shards covering one of the Titan’s eyes, but the other one was focused on staring down at Noct. 

“What do we do? He doesn’t look so happy..” you said, looking around for a way to help them down there. Noct, Gladio, and Prompto started running away from the giant, towards the right, away from your sight.

“We have to find another path,” Ignis said, taking your hand and leading you away from the collapsed edge and off the paved path. As you ran behind him, you marveled at how unabashed he seemed, grabbing and holding your hands. He seemed to realize this as well, as he remarked while letting you go, “Apologies! I just wanted to make sure you are ok.”

There was no more concrete to follow, and the ground was shaking violently. Ignis leapt onto a ledge and hugged the wall while traversing a thin path. _Oh god_.. You thought, looking down what would be a fall distance that would surely kill you.

“Hurry!” Ignis shouted, and he extended his hand to you. You grabbed it without hesitation and you rushed across the thin ledge. The next rumble threw both of you onto solid ground nearby, and since neither of you let go of each other, you fell right on top of Ignis. You adjusted his glasses that were askew, when suddenly he pushed you off of him. “Apologies for that..” he muttered as he tried to hide his beet red face and adjusted his belt.

You were about to ask him if he was okay, but a familiar deafening metallic sound above your heads cut you off. _Dreadnoughts_.. You remembered. You urgently signaled to Ignis for his phone to tell Noct. Once the sound was far away enough for you both to talk, he rang up Noct on his cell.

“Noct! You’re safe. Thank the gods. Listen, Imperial troops are near.. We’ll try to find you as soon as possible, but BE CAREFUL!” Ignis said. He looked at his phone, “Curses.. The signal strength is no good here. I hope he heard what I said.” 

The two of you ran towards the direction of where the airships were flying, in hopes of making it in time to help the rest of the group. The blood drained out of your face when the two of you finally reached where the airships landed and you realized that Noct, Prompto, and Gladio were fighting the giant Titan.

 _Oh my god.. We’re gonna die.. I don’t want the last thing I see to be this crazy scary Astral dude_.

“Y/N! We need you to help Noct. Only you two can warp to his weak points- his hands,” Gladio shouted at you. You analyzed Noct’s attack pattern: warp to a nearby safe area to avoid the Titan’s swings, then warp to the Titan’s hands to deal some damage. 

“OK! I got it,” you shouted back. You summoned your dagger in your right palm and threw it at a nearby broken column. You wiped some sweat off of your forehead to try to deal with the anxiety, when you realized that you should fight with your magic instead of your weak physical strength. Water.. 

You took a deep breath and said ‘to hell with it’ and warped to the Titan’s giant right hand. You focused all of your might to summon ice magic with both of your hands and then you pressed your hands right onto the monstrous fingers of the Astral. Immediately the contact burned your hands that you retracted, and the ice you conjured melted into water onto the Titan’s hand. The Titan roared angrily as it seemed to have taken some damage. It set its focus on the newcomer, you, and before it could swing its hand to grab you, you looked up to the sky and focused on absorbing the cool air in the atmosphere, and then touched the Titan’s hand again. This time, you endured through the searing heat and let your hands burn. 

As soon as the first layer of frost melted onto the Titan’s hand, you focused the rest of your energy on freezing that moisture. Slowly, the hand became encased in layers and layers of ice- until it was a giant Astral popsicle. 

The boys came forward and drove their attacks onto the frozen hand with renewed vigor. The flurry of damage of the five of you combined finally shattered the giant’s hand into nothing. The Titan collapsed onto its nub of an arm, and you caught your breath.

“We all still here?” Noct asked, looking around. The Titan roared and then started glowing. The yellow orbs surrounding its glow floated to surround Noct’s body, as if he was transferring something. “Luna.. was here?” 

Suddenly, airships in the sky began crashing down onto the Titan, and lava burst out of the ground around you. Gladio led the way away from the crash site, but the five of you quickly hit a dead end. You conjured up a shield to surround everyone, but your mana supply was low so the lava began to crack the shield. Ignis grabbed your hands and said, “Stop, you must rest. It might be fatal for you to overexert yourself.”

“But we’re going to die!” you said, yanking your hand away. Before you could fight further, an airship lowered itself in front of the group. “No way.. We can’t fight anymore..” The entrance hatch opened to reveal a single person- Ardyn.

“Fancy meeting you here!” Ardyn exclaimed. _The **** is he talking about_?? you thought. “It occurred to me that I never formally introduced myself!” he continued. “Izunia. Ardyn Izunia.” _The hell is he doing? Is he going to fight us_?

“Imperial Chancellor Izunia?” Ignis asked.

“At your service.. And at your aid. Unless you’d like to take your chances down here,” Ardyn said, extending an arm out.

“Dying here is not an option.. We have no choice Noct,” Ignis advised.

“I know..” Noct said reluctantly.


	15. Clairvoyance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Retrieving the Regalia, meeting Ravus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy holidays everyone!! Been lucky enough to have more time to write.. we are just ONE chapter away now from smut.. WHO'S EXCITED??? Sorry it has taken so long :( 
> 
> Anyways! The story is chugging along.. still under halfway of my whole outline. Thanks again for all of your support and readership! Don't hesitate to give me comments and thoughts!!

“We’ve been here for days.. We’re never going to get the Regalia back,” Noct said, slumping onto the ground. The five of you have been caravan-ing it out at the Wiz Chocobo Post after Ardyn mysteriously picked you up, and then dropped you off after the fight with the Titan. You tried your best to avoid the creepy man while holding on to the side of the empty interior of the airship, but it seemed as if Ardyn was already too preoccupied to talk to any of you. 

_Thank goodness_.. You thought. But you couldn’t help wonder what agenda Ardyn had- why an Imperial would bother saving their enemy, the King.

The past three days weren’t without strife- instead of traveling comfortably via the Regalia, the group had been running around creepy forests and caves to help Noct overcome the Trial of Ramuh and receive the second god’s favor. Umbra came by again to relay another message from Lady Lunafreya, and also brought Gentiana, apparently a mysterious Messenger of the Gods (according to Ignis), whom Prompto thought to be Noct’s fairy godmother.

“Cindy just texted me!” Prompto said, looking longingly at the text message he received from her. “Bad .. news.. The Regalia is in an imperial base.. Umm yikes.”

“Well, when are we going to retrieve it?” Gladio asked, poking at the campfire.

“We must avoid detection at all costs.. I don’t think it would be wise to fight the entire garrison, so we will infiltrate the base under the cover of night, which is the next few hours,” Ignis said. You admired the strategist and how brilliant he was, but the situation seemed a bit hilarious as Ignsi directed those plans while struggling to climb aboard a mischievous Chocobo.

The Chocobo rented to you was a fluffy black one that was very sweet but kind of slow-moving. It reminded you of the shirt that Prompto let you borrow. Of course, you’ve ridden them many times before, having grown up out in the country, so their bouncy and feathery ride was not a surprised to you. Gladio looked distressed, being quite possibly as large as the Chocobo he was riding, but Prompto was enjoying himself tremendously on a yellow Chocobo that looked just like the back of his head. Noct was hesitant at first, never having ridden one ( _that’s just not what royals do_ , you assumed), but he seemed to really bond with his Chocobo after a little while. 

Riding those, it really seemed more like the squad was heading to a circus than to a secret mission at an enemy base, but at least it was almost pitch black at this hour so nobody could see you. Ignis decided that you should all tie up the Chocobos further away from the base because their loud clucking and cawing would surely draw up a lot of attention, so the five of you snuck closer on foot.

\---- Aracheole Stronghold ----

The group hid, crouched behind a stack of shipping containers. “We’re going to have to warp-kill those two right there,” Noct said to you, pointing to the lonely pair of soldiers guarding one of the gate entrances. 

“Wha.. with.. With my dagger?” you asked. “I don’t know if it’ll be strong enough to kill it.”

“It’ll be fine,” Noct said. He grabbed your hand, drawing a sharp look from Ignis, and pulled you closer to an area you could see the enemies better. “On my count.. Three.. Two.. one, go!” he said, pointing and warping to the robot soldier on the left. You sighed and thanked the gods you didn’t eat much for dinner as you summoned and tossed your dagger to the guard on the right. 

At least you were more used to the rollercoaster ride feeling of warping now, and you didn't have to throw up this time. You found a weak spot where the helmet and the body armor met, and stabbed the imperial trooper in the neck area with as much force as you could. Surprisingly, the enemy fell to the ground with no fuss at all. “It worked!” you whispered to Noct. It seems like stealth attacks always did more damage, but your own strength still never failed to surprise you. He fist-bumped you and began running towards the gate.

“Noct!!” Ignis hissed. “There are searchlights! We have to tread carefully!” He pulled Noct aside, and the rest of you followed by hiding behind more shipping containers. Not a second later, a giant walking robot with a bright search light scanned the area, with some foot soldiers escorting it.

“Magitek armor.. Don’t want to mess with those,” Gladio said, referring to the large robot.

“We shouldn’t have to, if we keep to the shadows,” Ignis responded. He smiled at you, praise for becoming a big help to the group, being able to warp. You grinned back and felt like an awesome sort-of badass assassin.

The next area you all snuck into stopped everyone in their tracks. You’ve never seen anything like it (and this week has been full of those experiences)- An intense red beam of energy constantly shooting into the sky.

“A magitek generator of some description. It would explain why the troopers in the vicinity are uncommonly strong,” Ignis decided. Everyone looked around and saw pulses of red waves on and around the enemies, indicating his theory to be true.

“I say we wreck it,” Gladio said. “Spare us the sneaking around.”

“No.. the risk is too great if we get caught,” Ignis responded. You waited until another squad of soldiers passed by and then continued searching around for the Regalia. 

Finally, in a strangely well-lit area of the base, amongst trucks and caution signs, was the royal car. It didn’t seem scratched or worn at all, to the relief of Noct. The five of you rushed towards it, forgetting to be stealthy, and immediately a Magitek armor shined a bright spotlight onto the group. A horde of enemies began stomping into the area to surround the group.

“Ok.. new change of plans. Take out the generator, Noct and Y/N. There’s too many overpowered enemies for us here to fight,” Ignis shouted. Gladio, Prompto, and Ignis held their ground to provide enough distraction for the two of you to warp towards the red laser beam of light.

As soon as you reached the base of the huge generator, you involuntarily collapsed to your knees. It felt like someone was tying you up with magical barbed wire. “Ahhhh!” you screamed. Noct pulled you away with weakened effort himself, and scratched his head.

“We can’t touch it ourselves..” Noct said. “Dammit!” The enemies around you were closing in. “Wait.. energy… electricity.. Blowing out the generator.. we just .. need to summon Ramuh!” he said in a stroke of brilliance.

He held out his hand and closed his eyes. The skies started sending down bolts of thunder as a giant figure descended from the clouds above and grabbed Noct with its fist. It was Ramuh, the second Astral Noct had gained favor from. The Fulgurian was a rain and thunder controlling giant sorcerer-looking celestial being, with a long flowing cloak, and an equally long and flowing beard.

You started warping as fast as you could away from the area, leaving the troops of soldiers crowding around the area next to the generator. The Astral used its mighty gold horned-horse staff to send epic torrents of lightning down upon the magitek generator, causing a huge explosion where the generator shattered into tiny bits and destroying all of the enemies within the entire base.

The group met up back where the Regalia was last spotted, and excitedly ran towards it. "That was epic!!!" Prompto cheered. But before anyone could hop into the car, Prompto said, “Uhhh… guys? Who’s that?”

Everyone whirled around and saw a strange silver-haired man in a tattered white trench coat walking towards you. You couldn’t shake off the feeling that you’ve seen this man before, even though someone looking like this would never step foot into the diner in Hammerhead. He wearing what looked like a full-arm pauldron and you realized he might be the same man from your dream ( _maybe there are a lot of robot-arm men in this world_?).

“Long has it been…. _Noctis_ ,” the mysterious man said with digust. “You’ve received the Storm’s blessing.. Yet you know nothing of its consequences.” He suddenly held up a sword and pointed it a Noct’s throat.

“Ravus…” Noct said warily. Prompto, Ignis, and Gladio stepped forward to protect him, but then the man named Ravus suddenly pointed his sword at Gladio’s throat.

“The King’s sworn shield...” Ravus said. You were standing slightly behind the rest of the group, but you were ready to summon a shield if need be. “A weak shield protects naught.” He swung the sword at Gladio, who defended himself with his summoned sword. The silver-haired man looked thin and weak, but he easily overpowered Gladio and threw him aside with the force of his sword before you could even react. 

You tended to Gladio as he lay crumpled against the Regalia. You wanted to heal Gladio immediately, but something told you to keep your powers hidden from this dangerous man. The sun that finally rose after your invasion of the enemy base, shone on Ravus’ face, revealing a glint of blue and purple in this man’s eyes. 

_It’s him.. It must be him.. Could it really be a coincidence? But I’ve never seen him before.. and in my dream.. He was beating up Ignis, not Gladio.. I wonder if my dreams are only partially true, or if it tells of multiple possibilities_.

Noct summoned his royal weapons to fight Ravus, but both were shortly interrupted by burst of blinding light, and a familiar snarky voice. “I’d say that’s far enough. Business calls us from across the sea, where we will all meet next,” said Ardyn. Much to your shock, Ravus begrudgingly followed Ardyn and walked away.

“What the heck just happened?? And do you guys know that scary dude?” Prompto asked. Both you and Prompto helped Gladio stand up. You began healing Gladio’s scrapes and bruises from the blow once the two men disappeared.

"Thanks... Y/N..." Gladio said reluctantly. That was the first non-aggressive thing he's said to you in a while. 

“Ravus Nox Fleuret. He’s the first son of Tenebrae, and elder brother to Lady Lunafreya,” Ignis responded. “Noct spent some time in Tenebrae, where he became well acquainted with the two royals. Unfortunately when Niflheim invaded Tenebrae, King Regis rescued Noct but forsook the Queen of Tenebrae and her children. The Queen perished, and I can only imagine that betrayal to be the source of this bitter reunion.” 

“Ravus isn’t anything like Lady Lunafreya,” you remarked. The five of you climbed into the Regalia, and Ignis took the wheel to navigate out of the base.

“No, he’s not. He and I never really got along even when things were peaceful, and I never knew why,” Noct said, leaning against the side of the car, hair blowing in the breeze. “I just can’t believe he turned to the dark side, even turning against his own sister, in her fight against evil.”

“He’s now the imperial high commander.. Wartime makes for hasty promotions. Perhaps he was consumed by a lust for power,” Ignis said. 

“Ravus wants power?? I’ll give him a taste..” Noct said bitterly. After a bit of traveling in silence and with the imperial blockades no longer impeding your travel, you all finally returned to Lestallum.


	16. Euphoria !! NSFW !!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your first time with Iggy, amongst other happenings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all my lovely people, hope you've been having a wonderful New Year so far (and if you haven't, it is my greatest wish your days get better). Here is the long anticipated NSFW chapter that has taken sooooo long to reach! 
> 
> Pls excuse my grammar and possible other sentence errors, only had energy to look through it once and I promised to release the next chapter TODAY :D
> 
> I've had such a hard time brainstorming how I wanted this to happen, and I've had many crazy ideas (mushroom patch in the forest rofl).. but this is the one I thought would be best.
> 
> As usual don't hesitate to comment and let me know your thoughts!! Thank you all for your continued support <3

Lestallum was not the bright and tropical place, flowing with all types of lively inhabitants, that you remembered. It seemed as if the city was drained of color and reduced to a grey skeleton of itself. Imperial flags were hanging from every window and doorway, pitched on food stands and into the soil of the plants that lined the city. There were magitek soldiers marching around, investigating everyone’s businesses.

“That’s not good..” Gladio said, and everyone rushed towards the Leville hotel. “Iris!! You’re still here?” he said when he saw Iris sitting in the foyer. When she looked at him with a pained expression, he asked “what’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry Gladdy… I let you down.. I never made it to Caem..” she said. “The empire came while you were gone.” You exchanged a concerned glance with Ignis. “None of us said a word about Noct.. but Jared..” and Iris couldn’t continue without bursting into tears.

Noct’s expression became very grave. Talcott, the grandson of Jared, slowly walked over to the group. “I…” Talcott only managed to say. The child’s eyes were red, and tears were flowing freely down his cheeks. 

Noct kneeled before him and said, “The empire’s not going to get away with this. I’ll make them pay. I promise. But it’s not safe for you here.. Come with us.” 

You’re not sure how you all fit, but it was a very tight squeeze in the Regalia with two extra people. Unfortunately, your trip to Caem was interrupted by a huge flying ship that passed above you, which prompted the group to leave Iris and Talcott at a nearby motel and storm Fort Vaullerey, the next enemy base.

“So what’s our plan?” Noct asked, as the five of you surveyed the base atop a viewing area. 

“Take the commanding officer into custody.. Fighting metal soldiers yields little, while real human bones break easily,” Ignis decided. You’d never heard him talk so forcefully before- it was pretty intimidating. The tension in the air was high- thoughts of revenge for Jared were strong.

The five of you split into two groups with two objectives in mind: Ignis, Prompto, and you in one to detain the commander, and Noct and Gladio in the other to destroy the magitek generator here. You tailed the commander and ambushed him when there was an opening, holding him in a invisible cage with your shielding ability, while Ignis and Prompto dealt with his four bodyguards. 

“Who the hell do you think you are??” the commanding officer said, struggling to break out of the your prison. 

“Heroes of justice!” Prompto declared. He sounded more cheerful than avenging and you couldn’t help but face-palm at that remark, which interrupted your concentration of materializing the shield. That provided an opportunity for the man to break out of your weakened shield and make a run for it. 

“Dammit!!” you yelled. A large magitek robot stopped you three from pursuing the man, and forced you to battle it instead. By the time you defeated it, Noct and Gladio came over to the same area.

“We’ve destroyed the generator,” Noct said to Ignis. 

“Better luck than us.. He slipped through our grasp,” Ignis reported. You were about to say it was your fault but Ignis gave you a glance and cut you off, “Excellent work on the generator. We should leave before the commander returns with more reinforcements.”

Some strange black and white object came twirling from the sky, shooting downwards at lightning speed. Noct raised his sword and instinctively protected himself when the object collided with him. It was an extremely long black sword that almost cut Noct in half, and a strange lady clad in black armor, with long white hair and a shielded mask, holding it.

“Hey pretty boy,” the lady said. _What a weird greeting, distinctly unique from the previous encounters with mysterious strangers_. She instantly began a fight, and the five of you summoned your weapons. _She really thinks she can take on 5v1? Either she’s crazy or really strong_..

She wasn’t your average enemy. She took hits from you all, but shocked you when she flew into the sky. _How the hell is she doing that_? Many soldiers came into the fight periodically, and you protected the team by forming a shield around everyone to deflect the slew of incoming bullets. However, the shield shattered easily when the lady dove from the sky and pierced into it, causing a tremendous amount of pain to surge through your body, and you collapsed to the ground. 

“Y/N!!” Ignis shouted, and scooped you up from the ground, bringing you behind a storage container and laying you down. He tug open the potion bottle with his teeth and poured it all over you. The pain slowly subsided, but you still felt weak.

“Go.. help.. Noct..” you said to him. “I just need a minute.” He nodded, and ran back to the fight. You watched from behind the container, leaning on the ice-cold metal. The stranger was so fast in her movements, it was almost like.. _She can warp? But.. if the ability to warp is so rare.. How does she have it? I guess.. why do I have it_?

Following her movements equally fast was Noct, reacting with fast reflexes to land hits on her with his sword. _For being such a self-proclaimed lazy person, his fighting skills are actually pretty awe-inspiring_ , you admired. You summoned a shield to protect the area around him, even though the attempt to do so brought sharp pain to your temples. _It’s the least I could do to help while lying here_..

Suddenly, the stranger jumped onto the highest platform nearby and said something to Noct that you couldn’t hear, and then left by bouncing into the sky. Just another weird thing to happen to add onto the pile, you’re already used to it now.

\-----

The motel Iris and Talcott were waiting at was a shabby and run-down looking place, but it didn’t stop you from enjoying actually lying on a mattress (the Chocobo Outpost only had caravan sofa-beds). You were staying with Iris and Talcott in the room next to the boys, and Talcott was fast asleep. 

“Thanks for all of the clothes, Iris. You’re the best,” you said to her. 

“No prob!! I bet you all kicked ass!” Iris said. “I just wish that I could help..” She sat on the sofa, chin in her hands.

“Gladio would kill everyone, us included, if anything happened to you..” you said.

You pulled out your phone from your pants, after changing out of your battle outfit, and a pouch fell out of your pocket. _Oh right.. The necklace I bought in Lestallum, for Ignis.. Speaking of Lestallum_.. 

“Hey.. whatever happened that night at the club?” you asked Iris.

“Huh? Oh.. I went home with Atlas!” Iris said cheerfully. Your eyes almost bulged out of your face at her bluntness. “He was just ok. Not relationship material.” She shrugged her shoulders, and started texting someone on her phone.

“You mean.. You guys.. Did it?” you asked tentatively. 

Iris’ face snapped to look at you. “What? You’ve never done it before?” Her disbelief at you even matched your disbelief of her, and so there was an awkward moment of the both of you staring at each other. “You’re _soooo_ pretty, I’m surprised! Anyways.. It’s not that big of a deal. I’m not a royal or anything, and I can have fun if I want to. Maybe you should try it. Let loose ya know?” 

Iris was so much younger than you, and with that kind of mannerism, you really felt the disconnect between your two generations. _She hasn’t been smited down yet.. Maybe the gods really don’t care about sex outside of marriage_..

Emboldened by the talk (was that what it was?) with Iris, you texted Ignis to meet you in the lobby. He immediately texted back “sure, see you in five” and you took the old and very sketchy elevator down to the front desk area. The lobby was very dimly lit, and the check-in attendant was a lifeless sullen man, who looked like he was a thousand years old, giving you an uncomfortable feeling that this place was definitely haunted.

Ignis came down shortly after (thank the gods), looking very fresh from taking a shower. His hair was unstyled and long, almost covering his piercing emerald eyes, but perfectly framing his face. _He’s gotta know what’s he’s doing to me.. This is like .. the seduction version of his hair_.

“Hey…” you said, with flushed cheeks. “Uhh.. I don’t know if you celebrate the holidays where you’re from.. But I got you something..” You gave him the little pouch, but to your surprise, he pulled out of his pocket a the exact same pouch to give to you. 

“I suppose we got each other presents from the same vendor,” Ignis said with his lips curled up slightly. _Gods.. he’s so beautiful_. The man behind the counter was staring at you both, giving you the ultra creeps. “Shall we go somewhere else?” Ignis asked you when he saw your concern.

“Definitely.. But both our rooms are occupied.. Oh! How about the Regalia?” you said. It was just parked outside of the front entrance, so you both slipped into the backseat of the Regalia, converting it back to a covered sedan. Ignis extracted his necklace first, grinning widely.

“How did you know? I had considered purchasing this,” Ignis said. “I will treasure this, my love.” You gulped and felt your face turn red when he called you that. He was very skilled at putting the necklace on himself, and he awaited your present opening eagerly. 

You took out a beautiful solid gold sea star pendant on a shiny thin gold chain. “My favorite.. Sea stars..” you whispered. He remembered.. What we talked about in Galdin Quay.. “Thank you..” 

He offered to put on the necklace for you, which you gladly allowed while facing him. His face was extremely close to yours, and his fingers brushed your neck gently as he clasped the back of the necklace. His eyes were bewitching you.. And you felt a force pushing you towards him, into another kiss.

Your whole body twitched, sending shivers up and down your arms, legs, and spine. He didn’t flinch at all, he caught your lips like a warm embrace, caressing your left cheek with his slender fingers. _His gloves are off_ … You opened your mouth slightly and he gently pushed his tongue to meet yours. You felt your body ache for more, tingling feelings moving from your stomach down to your..

“We should stop..” he said, with a ragged breath. He pulled away, wiping the excess liquid from his lips. You tilted your head in confusion, and he continued, “I’m intoxicated by you, it’s too easy to take things too far.”

“What’s wrong with that?” you said, pouting. 

“I.. I want to honor your decision..” Ignis said, fumbling with his sleeves.

“Decision?” you asked.

“To.. well.. and I agree.. It’s only proper.. That one should wait.. Outside of marriage.. Well.. and even then.. at least let me take you out on a date..” Ignis said, obscuring his pink face by turning away. 

“Well, I’m not in Hammerhead anymore. And if ya haven’t noticed.. The world is ending, there’s no time, so I don’t really think anyone will care, and so help me god if I’m going to leave this world a virgin,” you said. Ignis crossed his legs and shifted his body, but you still noticed a big bulge between his thighs. _Is this the point of no return_? You wanted to feel what it was like.. To see what it looks like..

You climbed onto him, his now beet red face looking at you. “I don’t have ..” he began.

“It’s fine. All the single young ladies in my town got implants, to prevent unwanted pregnancies, especially from assault..” you said. You showed him the tiny matchstick-sized rod on the underside of your upper arm. 

With the last of his willpower and sensibility obliterated by your persuasion, he forcefully laid you down so that you were flat on the leather seat and he was on top of you. “Then with all things considered.. I’m going to destroy you,” he said, with hunger in his eyes.

You stopped and gave him a weird look.

“Yeah.. that .. that didn’t work, did it?” he said, embarrassed.

“No… that was.. Interesting,” you laughed.

“Apologies.. I’m terrible at .. ‘sexy talk’,” he said. His whole demeanor transformed into an insatiable beast, but he definitely still acted like the Ignis you knew. He rubbed his bulge on your body, causing it to poke your lower area and grow longer and warmer. You moved your unsteady hands towards it, wanting to open the zipper and see it. 

“Absolutely out of the question. Ladies always _come_ first,” Ignis said, grabbing your wrist. He smirked, as if he said something interesting, but you didn’t get it. He kissed your neck, causing you to moan, which in turn invited him to suck on your sensitive skin. 

The car windows were all fogged up from the heat inside the car, otherwise you’d be embarrassed from taking off your shirt and exposing your bra to the outside world. Ignis unclasped your bra from behind with his nimble fingers and admired your breasts for a moment.

“More luscious than I ever did imagine..” he muttered.

“Oh? And did you imagine this? Proper, upstanding gentleman Ignis?” you responded.

“Yes.. shame upon me.. Lascivious thoughts that are unbecoming of a man with so many responsibilities..” he said. “I’ve had feelings for you I’ve been trying to deny for so long.. that have only run rampant ever since we kissed..”

His tongue ran circles around your left nipple and then he sucked on it with his eyes closed. He did the same with your right nipple after an ample amount of time. Then he opened his eyes ever so slightly and gave you a smoldering look. His bangs were pasted to his forehead from the steaminess of the enclosed environment, but he looked so handsome and wild.

“Ahh…” you said, feeling the sensitivity. His hands traveled down to your pants, which he pulled down, along with your panty, without even releasing his lips from your breasts. You felt so nervous.. _Nobody had ever touched you down there before, you thought as your heart was racing_.

He moved two fingers and a thumb towards your folds, as he unlatched his tongue and lips to say, “Astrals.. You’re so wet..” He looked at you with enlarged pupils, intensifying his emerald stare, and licked his lips, while moving his head towards your lower abdomen.

“What are you doing??” You suddenly sat up and backed up to the edge of the seat.

“I.. I want to make you feel good..” he said sheepishly. 

“You’ve done this before?” you asked. 

“No.. of course not.. But..” he responded.

“But what??” you asked with your eyes wide.

“I have.. Done some research..” he said. He covered his face with his palm to mask his embarrassment. 

“Research?? You don’t mean... watching porn??” you asked incredulously. Ignis the Royal Strategist, Loyal Protector of the King.. _NO FREAKING WAY_!

“Well.. I supposed that perhaps one day we would... And I didn’t want to disappoint you...” he mumbled.

“You would do that for me? Risk being caught watching porn the boys?? When do you ever find time?” you said and then smiled while laughing at the thought of Noct walking in on Ignis’ research time. _No.. could it be.. Could they watch porn together?? Is that what boys do in their spare time_?

“You’d be surprised, or perhaps not. Nobody is awake during the mornings..” he said, dismissing your thoughts about a group viewing session. You felt a tinge of guilt as you imagined Gladio.. _No, no. I can’t._

“So THAT’S what you meant when you said ‘The world at dawn is full of wonders’” you said, remembering Ignis with a flushed face at the Chocobo post one morning after “coming back from harvesting mushrooms”, supposedly. _Ignis?? Touching himself.. While thinking about you? Oh god.. That’s so hot_..

He grinned and looked down in response to your correct assumption. You kissed him again, his lips complimenting yours like perfect puzzle pieces, leaving your vision hazy and your heart beating a thousand pulses per minute.

He moved his head down again towards your area, gently spread your legs to wrap around his shoulder, and went to town. He alternated between licking your clit like a lollipop, which sent a sharp and sensitive sensation to your stomach, and sucking on the entire area with his lips, which felt like he was tickling you (in a good way).

You didn’t know what to expect, but with every passing minute you felt like you were standing at the edge of cliff, waiting for something to happen. There was a feeling in your heart, anxiety similar to the stress you felt before an exam. The tickling sensation became so much greater, and at every point of pleasure there was a climb and a plateau- like it felt so good, but it took time to push you to the next level. You found yourself forgetting to breath for a few seconds at a time.

He glanced up again and the whole scene of this beautiful man with gorgeous eyes eating you like a finely crafted dessert finally set you off. It was a sharp sensation again, like an electric current sparking from your clit to the rest of your body, making you jolt and spasm four times before your clit was too sensitive. The feeling was like willingly jumping off a cliff and feeling like you were flying.

Ignis sat up and admired that you were laying flat on the seat in the most bliss you’ve ever felt. He gently dabbed his lips with a handkerchief, and asked, “was it satisfactory? My love?”

Your clit and thighs were pulsating now, feelings that were foreign to you. _Did you climax? Is that what it was? I can’t believe it was so good_.. “I feel like.. All of my worries and problems have just evaporated.. It was so amazing.. You’re amazing..” You sat up and attacked his belt without asking for permission. 

“I’m perfectly ecstatic about leaving things here,” he said, gently blocking his pants button. “You wanted to experience climaxing before the world ended and there it is.” He smiled and kissed your forehead.

You forcefully moved his hands aside, unbuttoned his pants, and gasped when his bulge was unshackled from its prison. It was like he stuffed a banana in his briefs… hard, long, and thick.. You looked up at him and he was breathing heavily, tranced and unable to move or speak. No lady had ever had this pleasure of breaking his walls, and you were proud to be so privileged. 

Your shaking hands pulled down his underwear and pants set (with some wiggling help from him) when you finally saw it emerge. A deep red, veined and long shaft, with what looks like a mushroom cap at the tip of it. You’d never seen one before, not even your ex’s.. It was incredible. You moved your head to take it into your mouth but Ignis stopped you abruptly by holding a hand against your chest.

“I can’t.. I’m not going to defile your beautiful face with such an unsavory act,” Ignis said. 

“What the hell..?” you said, looking at him with disbelief. “I want you to .. you know.. Ugh, whatever, just fuck me then!” You climbed on top of him, so nervous that the tip was so close to your entrance. You had no idea what penetration would feel like.. _Is it going to hurt_?

“Are you sure about this…?” he asked you. He was trying his best to sound as if he wanted to stop, but he didn’t budge at all and his slightly agape mouth was practically drooling with anticipation.

“There’s no one else I would rather give it to,” you said, pulling his face in for a kiss. Then you went for it.. You felt your entrance stopping any more movement. It was tight.. then he moved his thighs upward and pushed further. There was a sharp ripping pain as his tip penetrated you. _It hurts_!! 

“You’re bleeding..” he said, suddenly stopping, pulling away from you and looking at you with concern. There was a thin trail of blood leaking from your opening, down to your thighs. 

“No, I want it..” 

He hesitated.

“I want you..” you said, pulling him into a kiss again. He moaned, his dick twitching against your inner thigh, and he adjusted it to touch your entrance again. 

“Please tell me if it’s too much,” he said. “Promise?”

You nodded. _This isn’t what you thought having sex would feel like_ , you admitted to yourself.. _but he made you climax and you desperately wanted to see his_..

You bit your lip and gave him a longing look. He slowly pushed in again and you were relieved as he slid in more easily this time, but your area felt sore. “It’s so wet… and so warm.. So tight…” He suddenly pushed all the way inside you and hit a spot that made you gasp. _That hurt too_.. like he was poking you with a sword. 

“Did that feel good?” he asked.

_Weirdly.. it did? It hurt but it was a super intense feeling.. Like touching a bruise_.. you nodded. He pushed in and withdrew two more times, opened his mouth slightly and his breathing became ragged. He looked at you with lust.. pupils dilated and shook violently, climaxing and pumping into you extra hard three more times. You felt hot liquid flowing inside you, and his shaft bulging and pulsating. 

“I’m sorry.. that was .. short..” he said, face red from a combination of sex flush and embarrassment. He slowly unsheathed himself from you and the green came back to his beautiful eyes, though his eyes were still glossy.

“No, it’s so hot that you can’t hold it back..” you said.

“Seeing you climax.. Feeling the sensation for the first time.. I couldn’t.. ” he said shyly.

You both resumed kissing passionately. You felt positively euphoric, like you were in heaven and you never wanted to leave this car, or this moment. Your area felt very tender and sore.. you couldn’t believe that you just had sex.. for the first time ever.


	17. Mystery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> harvesting mythril and receiving a clue of your past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhhhhh.. wish i had time to release this earlier, hope it's ok!! it's kind of a long chapter >_< tried fitting a lot of plot in there. as usual, thank you for all your support!! please enjoy, and don't hesitate to comment on your thoughts!
> 
> also.. i've been writing excerpts of some future chapters.. there's a lot of exciting stuff i can't wait to show you all!!!

The front desk attendant gave you a smirk and a creepy chuckle, prompting you to latch onto Ignis’ arm and rush the speed of returning to your rooms. The door to the boys’ room was left ajar, so you decided to check in before sleeping.

“Where’s Gladio?” you asked. Prompto was already asleep, rolled up in his section of the blanket like a burrito. 

“Huh? Oh, dunno. He left around an hour ago to take a walk but then he came back a few minutes later and then said he had urgent business to deal with. He took all his stuff,” Noct said, lying next to Prompto, not taking his eyes off the game on his phone. 

An hour ago.. There’s only one exit out of the motel, and the car was right next to it.. _Oh god, did Gladio see us?? I thought everyone would’ve been asleep already. How embarrassing.. I was naked_ , you thought with the blood draining out of your face. 

You glanced at Ignis, and he returned a downcast expression. “Aren’t you worried about him?” you asked Noct.

“He’ll be fine. He’s probably just training some more because of that ass-whooping we got from Ravus,” Noct said, finally putting down his phone. “Is it that cold down there?” He was referring to your flushed faces, the innocent boy.

“It’s a bit chilly in the lobby,” Ignis said. 

“Well, goodnight you two,” you responded, then gave Ignis a meaningful look, wanting to give him a kiss but leaving it off because Noct was staring. 

\--------------

Cape Caem was a grassy peaceful outpost at the tip of a peninsula, surrounded by the beautiful Cygillan Sea. More importantly, there was a secret dock underneath the lighthouse where the late King’s yacht, the royal vessel, was hidden. Unfortunately, the boat was under repair by Cid, and something rare called “mythril” was needed to complete the fix.

“I’ve missed ya _lots_ girlie,” Cindy said, hugging you tightly. Her bright and sunny face was still the same as you’ve known for years, albeit a little tired and more mature. You could see Prompto staring at her tiny jean shorts out of the corner of your eye. 

“Same.. I can’t believe things are like this now,” you responded to her sadly. Everyone’s been on the run, and those who aren’t affiliated or allied with the Empire are in danger.

“Ahh don’t worry about Paw-Paw and me! We’re as tough as nails, as always,” Cindy said, clutching her fist and adjusting her belt bag. “We’ll be here, and take good ol’ care of Iris and Talcott!”

You would have liked to chill here in the breezy shade underneath the swaying trees, but the urgency of needing to meet Lady Lunafreya called the four of you (Gladio was still off somewhere) to Steyliff Grove, where mythril was rumored to be found.

The Regalia was noticeably more empty without Iris, Talcott, and especially Gladio. You wondered where he was, and if he was ok.. You hated that it seemed like you two finally got along, and your budding romance with Ignis may have destroyed all the progress. 

Prompto was talking Noct’s ear off about Cindy, while Noct was driving through a long and dark tunnel. Your fingers were nervously fiddling above your crossed legs. _I can’t believe what happened yesterday.. Was it really the right choice? My virginity isn’t something I can get back.. I barely even know Ignis.. Or any of these guys_.. 

Your thoughts were interrupted by Noct, who remarked about the road, “Thought this was under imperial lockdown..”

“Must be the work of Chancellor Izunia,” Ignis surmised. The rumble of his deep voice and elegant accent always calmed you down. He gently laid a gloved hand on yours, startling you. You looked into his sparkling emerald eyes and dismissed your thoughts from earlier. How could this sweet gentleman ever cause me harm? His dirty blonde hair was styled in his usual fashion, the back part of his hair gently laying on the back of his neck. You wanted to just grab him and pull him into a kiss. 

You didn’t, of course. Prompto whipped his head back from the shotgun and Ignis moved similarly quickly to let go of your hand and pretend he was fidgeting with something in the pocket in front of your seat. _Impressive, the reflexes on this man_ , you thought. _It’s not time to freak everyone out about you two anyways. I’m glad you both agree on this_.

“Hey can you show me how to beat the latest level released on King’s Knight??” Prompto begged you with puppy eyes.

\------------------  
It was raining heavily by the time Noct parked the car in some swampy forest area. You were soaked to the bone running towards an arch where, of course, the mysterious and creepy Ardyn was waiting. 

“Gentlemen… and _lady_ ,” Ardyn added. He paused a little too long, his hazel eyes boring into your eyes. You felt your arms prick into goosebumps, and couldn’t help but feel like he was leading you into a trap. “You need something from here.. And I’ve hired the perfect imperial escort.” He motioned for everyone to follow him deeper into the forest. “Oh, and.. Don’t fall too far behind. We wouldn’t want any .. problems.. Now that you’re down one person?”

You looked at Noct and he nodded, walking beside Prompto, following Ardyn. Ignis took off his leather blazer and tried throwing it over your shoulders. “Stop!! I’m fine,” you hissed, just quietly enough to not draw anyone else’s attention. 

“You’re going to catch a cold..” Ignis said, looking disgruntled. You gripped his hand for a moment, thanked him, and then ran ahead to catch up to the rest of the party. Ardyn led the party to the edge of a massive structure, enshrouded by the fog and foliage. It looked like ancient ruins, forgotten by mankind and its pathway completely flooded by water.

 _Welp.. you’re definitely going to get hypothermia now_ , you thought, as your boots and socks joined the rest of your body in getting drenched in dirty ancient forest water. There were three guards posted at the entrance, and as you walked closer you recognized the soldier in the middle with the grey hair and dragon-spike armor.

It was the same lady that jumped from the sky and fought the group at the enemy base yesterday. _Ow.. yesterday.. She crushed my shield_.. The memory of that brought sharp pain to the left side of your head. _Can’t I have a single day of my head not getting bashed in .. please_? You finally got an up-close look at her, unlike yesterday when everyone fought in the dark. 

She looked quite young, couldn’t be much older than you.. She had silver hair that was damp from the rain, and dark blue-green eyes that were as murky as the water everyone was knee-deep in. What you’re sure interested everyone was her armor.. And areas that her armor didn’t cover.. You glanced at Prompto and sure enough he was staring at her ample chest. _What about Cindy_?? You thought angrily. 

“So this is your cover, huh Prince? Recruits for harvesting materials?” the lady asked with sass. Noct remained quiet and alert. “At ease… there’s nothing in for this ex-mercenary to turn you in. Anyways, I’m being paid to watch over you so.. Let’s get this show on the road. By the way… I’m Aranea.” She clicked her face armor on and started wading through the entrance. 

“So.. what was this?” Prompto asked. “Any ideas, Ignis?”

“None,” Ignis replied. He smiled a bit when he saw your mouth open in shock. “My theory is that this must be some ancient Solheim civilization. However.. This place is very well hidden, and I’m not quite sure what happened to the residents.” _Oh ok, so he does have some idea_.

“Well.. why don’t we head inside and look for them?” Aranea said, cryptically. _What the heck does that mean_? You had a bad feeling about this.. Although you were glad that she and her fierce-looking spear were on your side this time. The five of you entered a giant empty room full of carved, stone pillars, wrapped by thick tree roots. It reminded you of a book you once read as a child, where a boy wizard had to fight a giant snake in a similar dank and sketchy chamber.

Luckily, the structure in this area was higher, and so there was no need to trek through deep water anymore. There was another entrance to pass through, that had glowing red carvings around the borders. “The empire sniffed this out a while ago. It only allows passage at night,” Aranea explained. _What was the empire doing with these ruins_? There was a long hallway that seemed endless, bringing the whole party deep underground.

“What the… are we underwater??” Noct said once everyone filed into an empty room. He pointed up at where the ceiling should have been- it was a barrier of liquid, with even fish swimming around inside of it. It was breathtaking.. The magical water extended past the room and into a large corridor.

“What does the empire seek here?” Ignis asked Aranea. 

“Specimens.. And we’re stuck here harvesting them,” she said. “Daemons,” she added, when Prompto gave her a confused look. Suddenly as she said that, skeletons emerged out of nowhere from the stone ground. There were so many, you each had to take on two human-like, weapon-holding skeletons. 

Fortunately, you made short work of them with your summoned sword. You did what Gladio had taught you about the attack swings, and wished you had practiced with him more. You figured you kept your magic from the eyes of possible enemies, as Aranea is affiliated with the Imperial Chancellor. Soon, the room was full of collapsed bones disappearing into puffs of purple smoke.

“Turns out… the Empire makes weapons out of them,” Aranea continued.

“Weapons? The daemons?...” you said out loud. “The soldiers we fought at the base.. Those were daemons?” 

“That’s right, dear, it’s not pretty. Their daemon cells disintegrate when exposed to light. That’s why they’re encased in armor. You know them as the magitek infantry, magitek troopers.. They’re born from daemons in a lab,” Aranea responded. The next area that the path led to was a huge clearing, some sort of a dilapidated grand ballroom. 

“Wow.. this room is huge! There’s soooo gonna be a big nasty in here,” Prompto said. According to the rules of life, the scariest monster is always in the biggest room of a dungeon. Right on cue, a thunderous roar echoed from deep within. A giant, blue-scaled, dragon-looking monster lifted itself up with its powerful wings and shot down like a jet, landing right in front of the group. Its exterior was lined with sharp red bone spikes- on its mouth, face, wings, and claws.

 _Here we go again_.. You summoned your sword, which was looking very small compared to the enormous dragon. Before anyone could ask what kind of creature this was, it shot a powerful blast of electricity out of its mouth, cutting the group down the line and throwing everyone onto the ground nearby. _No freaking way_ …. Paralyzed and lying flat on the ground for a moment, your skin and muscles ached from the pain. You saw residual electric energy ricocheting from the ground and concentrated with all your might to absorb that magic. 

_There’s no use hiding magic from frenemies if we’re all going to die here anyways_ , you thought, and heaved yourself from the ground. The dragon was now spewing flames from its rear end, leaving a blazing hot trail and obscuring your view of your friends. You focused your powers and returned a smaller blast of electricity to the dragon from behind. The scales seemed to repel the magic, and the monster didn’t seem to notice that you attacked it at all. 

“That’s not gonna work.. We’re going to have to warp strike it,” Noct said, clutching a gash on his left arm. You ran towards him, summoned a shield around him, and used your glowing hands to heal his wound. “Thanks.. Here.. take this,” he said, summoning the Swords of the Wanderer royal weapon. You remember the group retrieving it from the tomb in the cave behind the waterfall. 

“I can’t use that..” you said. 

“It’s just temporary.. Anyone can use these.. It’s just.. I guess not at full potential?” Noct said. He was grasping at straws, but everyone was feeling a little desperate in this dire situation. 

“Ok, ok!” You swiped the two swords from him, one in each hand. “Wait.. I don’t even know how to dual-wield…” you said, before realizing that Noct already warped to strike the beast again. 

\------

“Wow, so you guys really fought a Quetzalcoatl?” Gladio asked. He kicked off his shoes and put his feet on top of the coffee table. Everyone was glad to be back, all safe and sound, indoors at the cozy lighthouse in Cape Caem. 

“How do you know about those?” Ignis said, raising his eyebrows. He brought over a tray of tea cups and shooed Gladio’s feet off of table to set those down.

“Hey, I read .. books, too, you know,” Gladio said. Somehow his strange explanation made you think that maybe what he read was a comic book.

“Yeah.. and then it blasted us with intense magic.. And we couldn’t really fight back with magic.. Then Y/N was warp-striking with TWO swords.. the mythril ore was just laying on the ground.. And then Aranea gave us a ride on a red ship.. I just can’t believe that Noct didn’t even recognize you in the power plant!” Prompto said gleefully, giving Gladio a play-by-play complete with hand gestures reenactments.

“Yeah? Can’t even see anything in those _stupid_ stuffy outfits..” Noct mumbled. He was lying face down on another sofa, clearly pooped from all of the tasks completed. 

Feeling similarly exhausted, you retired to your room (the place was big enough for everyone to have their own), unloading your phone and coin pouch onto the nightstand. You were untying the laces of your boots when you heard a knock on your door. “Come in!” you said. To your great surprised, Cor opened the door. You forgot all about him, _wasn’t he helping hunt monsters somewhere_?

You stood up immediately with one boot and one bare foot, and did a salute ( _is that what you’re supposed to do_?). “Sir..”

“At ease.. Y/N,” he said. He slowly walked towards you. You had no idea what to do- put your shoe back on, or leave it off, or take the other boot off. All of the options seemed either rude or awkward. Regardless, he was staring at you very intensely. After a moment you felt yourself blushing.. Should I tell him to leave? I’m kind of uncomfortable..

“I .. I have something to give you,” Cor said uneasily. You held your breath. He took out of his pocket a very thin gold bracelet with tiny emerald stones embedded on it. You couldn’t explain why, but seeing it made you feel very calm. “It.. was a necklace. I don’t think it’ll fit on your neck anymore.. But it was yours.” 

“Why..” you stared at it as he held out his palm for you to grab it. “How?”

“I… Your father.. He was a good soldier. We lost him in the war. I just wanted to make sure I found it again.. That you have this now. It will protect you..” he slowly got up and bowed his head before leaving the room.


	18. Calm !! NSFW !!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the first day and night in altissia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope everyone's having a wonderful weekend! thanks for being patient as always, hard to find time to write in between work and all. 
> 
> comments are always appreciated <3 stay tuned for more epic adventures with the gang!

As the boat you were on drifted away from the hidden dock in the dark cave, Talcott shouted, “Your Majesty! Come back soon.. We need our King!”. Iris waved frantically next to him, and suddenly you felt melancholy, like you’d never see them again. You put on a strong smile and nodded when Iris mouthed “take care of Noct!” _I hope they will be ok_. You leaned against the rails and watched as they became smaller and smaller, until they could not be seen anymore.

“They’ll be safe,” a rough voice said next to you. Gladio was shirtless, and more scarred up on his body and face than you remember. You were eager to talk to him yesterday, until you encountered him late at night when trying to use the restroom. Apparently, there was only one, and the door was so ill-fitted for its frame that you could see more than you wanted of its occupants. 

“Hey… so about everything..” you began, unsure of where you were going with the conversation.

“Don’t worry about it. I was just an idiot. Jealousy. That’s not my thing, you know. I got a lot of shit to take care of, like the King. I’m really happy for you two. Specs really deserves it,” Gladio said. 

You would have been so glad, so relieved to hear this, except.. You didn’t believe his words. You couldn’t… not after you heard him whisper your name as he was touching himself last night. You knew.. He must have saw you and Ignis in the car the night he left. You didn’t think .. that would be his reaction… You couldn’t bear to watch any more of what you saw, and you ran back into your bedroom. But you couldn’t tell him any of this. 

So you gritted your teeth and forced a grin, “I’m glad. Thanks man.” Your heart was pounding as you politely dismiss yourself from the conversation and moved away from the stern. Noct was talking to Cid, who was steering, about something you couldn’t make out. At the bow, Prompto was clicking away with his camera, absorbing every shimmer of the sea. You took a seat next to Ignis, who was writing in his notebook in the first row of seats, underneath the sun cover.

“Perfect weather for enjoying the sun, isn’t it?” Ignis said. He took off his glasses and started cleaning them with a cloth. 

“You mean.. I should expose some skin?” you asked, giving him a knowing grin. 

“Very astute. I wasn’t aware my true intentions were so transparent?” he responded.

“Clear as glass,” you said. “I shouldn’t anyways..” You felt uncomfortable with the plan, with Gladio nearby. It didn’t seem like a good time to trouble Ignis with your concerns, so you decided to toy with him a bit.

“Is something the matter?” he asked, putting a hand on your thigh.

“I’m not wearing any underwear,” you whispered in his ear.

He gulped, turned beet red while attempting to push his glasses onto his face. You covered your mouth to stifle your laughter. You heard a loud CLICK of a shutter, and saw that Prompto’s camera was facing you two. 

“Confound it, Prompto! Go take some pictures of sea gulls or something..” Ignis said, fumbling with his glasses until they fell onto the wood floor. 

Prompto slid onto the cushioned bench looking at you very mischievously. “Whatcha guys talking about?” 

“I was just… telling him that .. the way he cuts his vegetables is wrong,” you struggled to make some shit up. Shockingly, Prompto accepted it. 

“Oh, wow. I didn’t know that was a thing. Maybe that’s why Noct doesn’t like vegetables!” Prompto said, actually putting some thought into this. _Oh Prompto, you're too damn innocent for this world_. He got up to take some more pictures, and you stretched yourself out onto the length of the seat. The sun warmed your skin, and the passing breeze smelling of the seawater felt refreshing. 

Gladio was having a more serious talk with Noct on the other side. “.. only those of the Lucian line can wield the sword.. Must be how he got that robot arm of his,” you heard a snippet of Gladio’s statement. They were talking about the man with the two different colored eyes. When they noticed that you were staring, they disbanded the conversation. Noct laid down on the other bench while Gladio flexed and started taking selfies.

_I can’t believe I’m going to Altissia.. I never would have dreamed of ever being able to afford going there. We’re going to finally meet up with Lady Lunafreya.. And everything will be better.._

When you finally woke up from your peaceful nap, everyone was standing at the bow looking at the land that was getting closer. The boat passed through a narrow opening in a large rock wall, that led to a bridge.. _For boats… on water_? You gasped as the rest of what you presumed to be Altissia came into sight. 

Waterfalls cascaded down in tiers, the entire length of the surrounding wall, covering the surrounding air with shining crystal droplets. There were giant marble statues of goddesses with wings, along what apparently was the only entrance into the the gothic cathedral style city. You had never seen a place more beautiful and awe inspiring than this- and that’s saying something since Galdin Quay was amazing! 

The years it must have taken to carve such impressive building details .. Columns upon columns, multi-tiered structures, regal banners draped in a line, welcoming in every visitor. Cid handed over a very old and yellowed looking document to the border guard, and then the boat was allowed through to reveal the rest of the floating city.

As the five of you (Cid opted out of continuing with the group) walked towards the center of the city, you felt inexplicably enamored. The cobblestone roads, the canals with the gondolas, the arches of every walkway.. It was like being in a movie, like the ones you watched about Europe.

“I gotta say.. Aranea really impresses me,” Prompto said out of the blue.

“With her outfit?” Noct responded.

“Well.. yeah… that too..” Prompto said. “It’s just.. I thought that empire was filled with jerks, but she’s really different.”

“You seem quite smitten with her,” Ignis replied. 

“Which is it? Cindy or Aranea?” Noct asked.

“Oh boy.. Wow.. well..” Prompto said thoughtfully.

“I’ve no doubt that both of them can wait..” Ignis said under his breath. You felt a tinge of jealousy as he said that with a smirk. _Aranea is very beautiful.. And strong.. I wonder if Ignis admires her as well… Ugh, stop being an idiot.. Jealousy is so unbecoming of me_.

“This city is soooo romantic..” Prompto restarted with more comments. He snapped away with endless photos of every angle of every corner. 

“And you get to spend it with us, lucky you!” Gladio said, laughing at Prompto’s now-sour face.

You felt a hand grab yours, as Ignis lagged behind the rest of the group to walk next to you. He gave you an award-winning smile and you put to rest your terrible thoughts. “Are you alright, my love?” Ignis said rather quietly.

“Perfect,” you replied. 

\-----

Weskham Armaugh was a distinguished-looking bartender wearing a monocle, who spoke to Noct in a deep voice. “Just be aware that the terms of our independence grant the empire free rein to come and go as they please.” 

“Where is Luna?” Noct asked. There was nobody else at Maagho, this bar. You all took seats on the counter area stools, admiring the vast collection of wine bottles.

“In the city somewhere, but no one has caught so much as a glimpse of her,” he replied. “Though we have seen the High Commander.. The empire’s not content with ruling all the land.. They want the heavens as well.” 

“Ravus..” Noct said. 

“The locals aren’t too concerned about the appearance of soldiers.. However many have stockpiled emergency provisions. That begs the question.. If they anticipate the Hydraean wreaking havoc, why would they allow the rite to proceed?” Weskham continued. “Ah.. my dear Camelia.”

Suddenly a blonde lady well into her 40s, with a professional updo and a complementing emerald green suit walked into the bar. Camelia was accompanied by a guard who looked like he was wearing a colonial-inspired navy blue uniform.

“You should know, gentlemen..” she said (ignoring you). “We have Lady Lunafreya in our care. The empire demands that we surrender her.. But I am loathe to acquiesce unless we stand to profit. Hence.. I’ve come to discuss terms with the King of Lucis.” She sounded extremely grave and you swear that her stare at Noct could have petrified anyone. 

“If you have a mind to talk.. I’m available next Monday,” she said, and then left without waiting for Noct’s reply. 

“She can be oblique at times.. But I assure you .. her heart is in the right place,” Weskham said, cutting through the stunned silence of the group.

“The hell are we going to do for a week?” Gladio asked.

“Learn what we can about the situation.. And prepare for what’s to come,” Ignis said. “For now.. Let’s find suitable accommodations.” The group piled into a gondola that was operated by a buff man in a striped shirt and wearing a straw hat. It must have been one of the weirder groups he’s had to shuttle around this beautiful city- four dudes and some lady. The gondolier must have wondered if you were an agent or manager of this boy band, or if you all were part of some “holy trist”. 

Ignis pointed towards a stone building with red accent walls after you were all dropped off at the next stop. “That’s it. The Leville.” 

“Another one?” you asked.

“It is the same owner for both establishments,” Ignis replied. 

The interior was beautiful and very well-kept for an old/traditional style hotel. The crimson carpet, the mahogany walls, and the gold metal detailing felt very deluxe after staying at the abandoned lighthouse in Cape Caem. You barely had time to touch the flowing water of the gondola flower fountain in the middle of the room before the concierge escorted you to your prospective rooms. 

The guest rooms had an olive green and chocolate color scheme with ample plush furniture, fancy wallpaper, and inviting warm lights. Noct and Prompto shared a room, Gladio and Ignis shared another, and you had your own. 

You dropped your duffle bag full of clothes onto the ground and admired the view outside the window. Happy couples taking a walk beside the serene canal waters.. The entire city surrounded by beautiful waterfalls.. _This.. is definitely where I want to live for the rest of my life_. 

Your bed vibrated behind you, and you turned around to check the text on your phone: “Dinner at 7pm tonight?”

You smiled and smacked your own cheeks for feeling so giddy. What could make this more perfect? An evening with Ignis.. You coyly texted him back, “I think I can fit that in my schedule.” You'd never felt so in love before.. _is this what it is? Love_? You had felt comfortable.. committed to your ex, but this thing you had with Ignis.. it felt like it lit your soul on fire.

You rummaged through your limited clothing supply and thought, _dammit! What should I wear?? Maybe it doesn’t matter.. I mean, the man’s seen me in Prompto’s chocobo shirt for crying out loud.. But .. we’re in Altissia, the most romantic place I’ve ever been.. I can’t wear that_! 

Suddenly, you found a small package wedged into the depths of your bag with a small note attached to it. You squinted and made out “get it, girl!” and unraveled some purple lace lingerie. _Wow.. Iris really is my home girl, she really prepared me for this part of life_. You decided to have dinner in a nice lavender skater dress, with the secret weapon of lingerie on the inside.

When your phone showed 6:58pm, you walked out into the hallway and knocked gently on the door next to you. After a minute or so.. You turned the knob and noticed that the door was unlocked. Gladio wasn’t in at the moment, but to your shock Ignis was fast asleep in bed. _Wow, can’t imagine this man ever being late, he must really be exhausted_. You took off your clothes quietly and locked the door.

You gently peeled up the part of the blanket that was covering his legs and slid your face and body in between them. _Mmmm so warm_ … Ignis groaned but didn’t wake up. _No pajamas.. Only underwear_ , you smirked. _So easy_.. You stuck your hand into the front hole of his briefs and immediately found his already-hard morning wood. You slowly let your tongue slide up his shaft from the base to the tip. You’d never done this before.. But you wanted to return the favor. _Tastes like skin.. So weird, like licking my own hand or something_. 

“Y/N!! What are you doing!” Ignis hissed, now very much wake. He peeked at you by lifting up the covers from his end and you let a little excess drool dribble down the side of your lips. “Heavens help me..” His expression quickly transitioned from shock to lust when he saw your face, and you didn’t let up at all. 

You braced yourself, opened your mouth and moved your head down to cover his whole erection. _It’s huge! This is harder than it looks_.. You thought as you almost gagged. Ignis let out the sexiest moan you ever thought you’d hear, and that was enough inspiration to keep you going. You fought through your uncomfortable need to throw up to continue pleasing him, and tasted some saltiness coming from the tip. _What is that?_ Before you could think of an answer, he shook violently and pumped into your mouth a large burst of semen. 

It was too surprising and very thick and salty, so you let it all flow out of your mouth instead of swallowing it. Ignis, now with flushed cheeks and very dilated eyes, forcefully moved your body so that you were on your hands and knees on the bed. “How dare you make me climax first?” He said with a husky voice. 

“Oh? And how ever will you punish me?” You whispered. You wiped his cum from your chin and lips and stuck out your rear end. 

“I’m going to fuck you until you wish you didn’t awaken the beast,” Ignis said, almost ripping off the lingerie. He grabbed your hips and thrust into you. You were plenty wet from playing with him, but the feeling of him inside you felt different without you climaxing first. It felt really good nonetheless, and you could feel the tip hitting the end of you, like touching a bruise. _It hurts so good_...


	19. Daze !! NSFW !!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NSFW sexcapade in Altissia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uggh I will try to write more often!! Apologies, and thanks for your patience, as always. Hope you enjoy!! Things will be progressing quickly from here (probably only 6-10 chapters left) so stay tuned my lovely readers <3
> 
> Also.. cameo unexpected pairing smut scene

You both giggled and stumbled into to the fancy restaurant that Ignis had called in for a reservation, for which he straightened up and apologized profusely to the check-in staff. You ran a few fingers through your hair to flatten the crazy mess it was after the rough and tumble in the hotel room. The hostess led you two to a candlelit canal-side table for two, and Ignis pushed in the chair for you. 

“I .. hope this is suitable. I wanted to take you out .. on a date,” Ignis said, unfolding the napkin onto his lap. His embarrassment further reddened his already post-coital glow, and it was adorable. 

“You’re always taking me out to fancy places,” you said. When he cocked his head in confusion, you continued, “that restaurant in Galdin Quay was pretty amazing.”

“Well that wasn’t.. I mean..” he began. The waiter came by to take your drink orders, interrupting him. You placed your hand on his and admired his beautiful face. His hair was down again, and his glasses were off. He hadn’t had time to style his hair after his shower earlier today, and you woke him up abruptly before arriving at the restaurant. Anyways, you knew he wanted you to see his sex-mode hair.

“Have you ever waltzed before, Y/N?” he asked.

“Seriously? Do I look like I have?” you replied. 

“I suppose not…” he said, averting his eyes. I guess my response was more rude than funny..

“I’d be down to try it though. With you?” you said.

“Really? I’d love that very much,” he said, with a shine in his emerald eyes. A man with an accordion starting serenading the restaurant patrons and came closer to your table. 

“I love this song.. It’s from that movie where the two dogs eat spaghetti right?” you said excitedly. You were so happy in this moment, you never wanted to leave this table, this place, and Ignis.

“I have not seen that one before.. It is a beautiful song,” Ignis added quickly, wanting to placate your shock for him never watching cartoons. _Where was his childhood_??

You felt something leaking onto your underwear, and blushed a deep shade of red when you remembered him passionately climaxing inside you. “Sorry.. need to use the restroom. Just order anything! I’m sure I’ll love it,” you said, and rushed to the bathroom.

The bathrooms were rather small but ornate and decorated beautifully. You sat down on the toilet and found it difficult to go. It was your second time with Ignis, and it still hurt and burned a bit when you tried to use the restroom. _What am I doing.. Is it really ok to have given myself to a man I barely know? I just feel so vulnerable.. What if he’s just using me? God.. I’m such an animal. It feels sooo good.. And it’s .. good for your health, right_?

The rest of the night passed more carelessly as the two of you downed glass after glass of wine. Every thought clicked, every conversation was so effortless. You felt like you’ve been best friends for years. He was hilarious, and you were the only ones who ever appreciated each other’s puns.

Ignis had plenty of stories of growing up with the Prince- supplementing his studies, reminding him of his royal duties, but mostly about how horrific the state of his room and apartment was always in. 

“I can’t imagine..” you said.

“Why on earth would anybody eat candy bars while they are in the loo?” he asked exasperatedly.

“That’s pretty gross..” you snorted and let out a raucous laugh.

“And imagine, I’M the one that has to clean up his place,” Ignis said.

“Well I’m sure it can’t be as bad as fighting off stalkers for your best friend,” you said. “I was grabbing something for her when I see a dude in her room, and he’s in the middle of stealing all of her underwear. Boy was he shocked to see that little old me was quite strong.”

“What happened?” he asked with wide eyes.

“Well, I punched him. Later on though, he complained that I assaulted him. Jeez..” you said. 

“So brave of you..” he said, “my strong warrior.” You giggled and realized that both of you had way too much to drink since he was starting to say weird things. His face came in to plant on kiss on yours, but it was way too wet. _He’s really quite a bad kisser when he’s wasted. I never thought I’d prefer his usual composed self_.

“We should probably get home..” you slurred. “I’ll get the bill.”

“I already.. Paid for it,” he said. 

“What? When??” you asked. 

“Well, I thought.. It would be best to be prepared..” he hiccuped. “And.. you don’t have to be like.. So strong all the time.. I mean.. I am all for equality but.. Your story is just proof that .. women have such a hard time.. So unfair.. The least I could do ..”

“Well thank you..” you said, genuinely touched. 

“You’re welcome.. Princess…” Ignis said sleepily. He swooped in for another kiss but you pretended to look another way so that it would land on your cheek. _This man needs sleep right now_ , you laughed on the inside.

Your attempts to keep him upright were foiled by your own occasional stumbling, and eventually you both fell onto the cobblestone. “Oh my gosh! Are you ok??” you asked him.

“I’m.. I’m wonderful,” he replied. _Oh good.. He’s still too drunk to feel pain_. “This.. is .. Lady Lunafreya’s wedding dress.” He looked up at a shining display case of a bridal boutique store. The beautiful white asymmetric dress with opulent detailing and trailing sleeves glittered in the night.

“It’s beautiful..” you remarked. “I can’t wait for them to get married!”

His dazed look suddenly became sullen. 

“What? What’s wrong?” you asked him.

“The .. Hydraean.. There is a possibility .. we may lose.. Everything,” Ignis said. “We narrowly escaped death with our previous encounter with an Astral.”

“What?? Are you saying we’re all going to die?? What the heck are we doing here enjoying ourselves? We should prepare for battle..” you said frantically.

“What can we prepare for? No one knows what to expect. Until we saw the Titan, no one who is living has even seen an Astral before,” Ignis said, drawing outlines of the cobblestone with his finger. “After all.. If we constantly live our lives in fear, then that would not be a life worth living..”

“I’m not always living in fear.. I just want you to be careful.. I don’t want to lose you..” you blurted out, and stood up. 

“I promise you..” he said, slowly getting up. “I will always be by your side to protect you.” He grabbed your shoulders and stared at you intensely.

“Really? You’ll be with me forever?” you asked jokingly.

“If you marry me..” he said, face crimson from blushing.

“Ok..” you said, smiling from being amused at how drunk he was. He pushed you against the wall next to the wedding dress and started kissing your neck. _Ok.. wet kisses work there_. You felt tingly and short of breath. You scanned the area around you- not a soul in sight. Jeez, what time is it??

“I want you..” you said to Ignis. His eyes glowed from the reflection of the display case lights. 

“I beg your pardon?” he said. He sounded much more sober and alert all of a sudden.

“Here.. there’s no one here anyways..” you said coyly.

“Astrals.. I don’t even care if anyone sees..” he said, feeling you up your skirt. He kissed you, with more precision and less moisture this time (thank goodness), and fondled your wet folds. It took some time for you to build up towards a climax, and you were so close before you got distracted by something.

You heard some weird quacking sound ahead of you, coming from the canals. You peered beyond Ignis’ shoulder and saw two ducks smashing. _Wow, they’re really going at it. How is it I’ve never seen this in real life before_?

 _Dammit.. Now I’m really disturbed.. Ok, I’ll just let Ignis finish.. And turn the other way_. You faced the wall while he took off your underwear. He knelt down to finish you with his tongue when you lied to him that you came.

“Really?” Ignis asked. 

“Yes.. just fuck me!” you said longingly, and he wasted no time in acquiescing. He undid his belt and unzipped his pants so quickly that when he penetrated you, it shocked you into screaming his name. 

“Y/N..” he moaned in response. “Gods it’s so incredibly sexy when you do that..” He turned you around and lifted you up so that he was carrying you by the butt and thighs. “I want to see you when we make love..” He pushed into you from the front and you continued moaning as his tip touched your inner tender spot. His breath grew ragged within a few moments and he gazed at you with lust as he came inside you. _I wish I could climax that fast…_ you thought.

You both made out for a while longer, pressed against the wall, only leaving when a nearby clock rang the hour. He helped you slide your underwear back on and primped your dress, and then re-dressed himself while you gave the nearby ducks a dirty look.


End file.
